The Lackawanna County Board of Elections voted Wednesday to schedule a special election to replace former county Clerk of Judicial Records Mauri Kelly.
The move parallels the board’s vote Friday to schedule a special election to replace former Commissioner Matt McGloin, a decision the county Democratic Party challenged in court Monday.
Kelly announced in May she would retire Sept. 2, which was Tuesday. Special election voters would choose someone to fill her job until January 2026.
Elections board members Bill Gaughan, a county commissioner, and Terrence R. Nealon, a county common pleas court judge voted in favor of the special election. Commissioner Chris Chermak abstained. They voted the same way Friday.
Democrats recommend possible replacements
The county Democratic Party executive committee met Thursday, interviewed 11 applicants for Kelly’s job and chose three to recommend to the county common pleas court judges, party chairman Chris Patrick said.
Patrick said they are Lauren Bieber Mailen, Taylor Mayor Lori Kavulich and Colleen Eagen Gerrity, a top aide to former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright.
The judges are scheduled to interview the candidates and choose replacements for both jobs Thursday, though the county and Commissioner Bill Gaughan went to court Wednesday to block the appointments at least temporarily.
County Democratic Party chairman Chris Patrick said he's unsure if the party will challenge the board's latest call for a special election.
"We are waiting to see how the hearing goes on Wednesday," Patrick said in a text.
The county court has scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday on the party's challenge to the commissioner special election.
How it all started
In February, the party recommended former county planning and economic development director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Council President James Baldan or Scranton School Director Bob Casey to replace McGloin.
In both cases, the party acted under provisions of the county home rule charter, which allows the party of a former elected official to nominate three potential replacements. McGloin and Kelly are Democrats.
Gaughan, county court challenge
The county and County Commissioner Bill Gaughan challenged the commissioner recommendations in court. They argue state law and a state Supreme Court administrative rule require the county judges to solicit new applications and choose the replacement without the party having a say.
A panel of county common pleas court judges voted 2-1 to uphold the party’s commissioner recommendations in May. Gaughan and the county appealed to state Commonwealth Court. The appeals court backed the party’s use of the home rule charter process in July.
Gaughan and the county appealed to the Supreme Court, but the court hasn’t decided whether to listen to an appeal.
Nealon explains board vote
During the elections board meeting Wednesday, Nealon cited two appeals court rulings for allowing a special election for the clerk's job.
In 2021, the Commonwealth Court ruled in favor of allowing a special election for Luzerne County district attorney after the County Council went to court to block the election, Nealon said.
The Luzerne County Board of Elections had voted to approve the special election.
In that case, lawyers never challenged the elections board's right to call for a special election, Nealon said. Both sides had well-respected lawyers expert enough to raise the issue, Nealon said.
In its challenge to the commissioner special election, the county Democratic Party questions the Board of Elections' right to call for one.
Nealon also cited a 2025 Commonwealth Court ruling that centered on Allegheny County's home rule charter and filling a county council seat.
The court ruled in favor of allowing a special election in November to fill the seat for the remainder of the term, Nealon said. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, he said.
"So I'm even more confident than I was last Friday in the authority of the election board to declare a special election without first receiving a vote or a directive from the commissioners," Nealon said.
Chermak said Nealon "made a lot of great points," but he decided to go by past practice.
"In the past, when this situation has come up, they've followed the procedure put in place in the home rule charter and they (the judges) made their decision there was no issue," Chermak said.
The special election process is also flawed, he said, because voters must choose between Democratic and Republican candidates picked by the parties.
"If they had a chance ... to select a Republican in a primary race and a Democrat in a primary race, and an independent then would be in the November race," he said. "They would have time to campaign and get their voice across. But, you know, I'm going to stick with my decision before and I'm going to abstain from this vote. In my mind, I'm not 100% convinced, but it will be what it will be."
Gaughan addressed the issue at length at a commissioners meeting hours earlier.
"In a democracy, power belongs to the people, not the party bosses, not backroom deals or a select few who think they know better than the voters," he said. "That's why I strongly support holding a special election ... Every resident of Lackawanna County deserves the right to choose who represents them, rather than having that decision made by a handful of political insiders. It is shameful that both the Democratic Party ... and members of the Republican Party are circling the wagons to block a special election. They'd rather protect their own power than trust the people that they claim to serve. That is not democracy. That is politics at its ugliest."
Audience members at both meetings said they favor the special elections.
Ashley DeFlice, who serves on the Clarks Green Borough Council with Nealon's son, told the elections board voters deserve to choose who represents them.
"There are some in this county who would feel as though they own this seat, that it is theirs to control," DeFlice said. "But we have a message for them that they don't own it. We do ... We no longer accept Tammany Hall-style politics, and that's exactly what we have here."
Mike Giannetta, a Scott Township supervisor and once Chermak's running mate for county commissioner, agreed.
"People are tired of all these lawsuits and the appeals, and there's another one filed by the Democratic Party to stop the special election and deny the people the right to vote and decide who the commissioner is going to be for the next two years," he said. "And the people, the taxpayers of Lackawanna County, should have the ultimate say on who that commissioner is going to be."
Michael Cappellini, a Democrat circulating petitions to get on the special election ballot for commissioner as an independent, said he's proud to have a chance to run.
"I humbly and personally want to thank each and every one of you here today," Cappellini said. "You are all true and living proof that our democratic institution still stands for listening to the people's desires in the form of the constitutional right to a free and fair election, which will take place in November."
