HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania voters went to the polls in low numbers Tuesday, and Republican and Democratic candidates split the two highest profile statewide judicial elections.
In the race for one open seat on the state Superior Court, Allegheny County Democrat David Wecht defeated Vic Stabile, a Cumberland County Republican, by the margin of 55 percent to 45 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
In a similar one-on-one race for a seat on the state Commonwealth Court, Bucks County Republican Anne Covey defeated Kathryn Boockvar, a Democrat who also hails from Bucks County. With 98 percent of the vote counted, Covey leads by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.
The winners of Tuesday’s election will serve 10-year terms on their respective courts.
With no major executive or legislative offices up for election this year and no openings on the state Supreme Court, those two races were the major statewide campaigns in 2011 general elections. As expected, turnout was low and on line with previous off-year judicial elections in the state. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the state was on pace to have about 1.8 million votes cast, which would equal a turnout of about 21 percent of registered voters.
In Pennsylvania’s unique appellate system, the Superior and Commonwealth courts are one notch below the state Supreme Court. The Superior Court hears most civil and criminal cases, while the Commonwealth Court handles cases involving governmental departments or agencies.
Wecht is serving on civil divisions of the state Court of Common Pleas, which Stabile is a judicial clerk and former deputy attorney general.
Wecht was carried to victory with large margins in Philadelphia and Allegheny, though he also carried at least 18 other counties as well.
Mark Nicastre, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, praised Wecht for running a strong campaign.
Wecht “is a strong legal mind, and he will represent the court with integrity,” Nicastre wrote in an email.
Though Boockvar won more than 75 percent of the vote in Philadelphia County, she did not do as well in Allegheny County — the state’s other Democratic stronghold — where she beat Covey by only 30,000 votes. The Republican candidate made up that deficit easily by carrying the majority of the rest of the state.
Pat Poprik, vice chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Committee, said Covey was an intelligent and deserving winner.
“We’re very excited to be sending the first Bucks County judge to a state-level court,” Poprik said. “She is a hard worker, and she’s going to be a great judge.”
At the state Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court levels, all six judges up for a retention vote won another term in office.
Unlike in a judicial election, a retention election does not allow voters to choose from a list of candidates. Instead, voters cast ballots for or against the retention of a judge on the bench.
If a judge wins a retention election, he is given another 10-year term on the bench. The judge is removed from the bench if he does not win a majority of the votes.
Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin, a Republican, won more than 70 percent of the statewide vote to be retained in Tuesday’s election. He is one of seven judges on the state’s highest court.
Best known for frequently writing his court decisions in the form of poems or rhyming verses, Eakin’s retention will give him a second 10-year term on the court, until 2021.
At the state Superior Court level, Judges John Bender and Mary Jane Bowes, both Republicans, each won more than 70 percent of the vote to retain their seats as well.
Bender and Bowes were running in their first retention election since winning seats on the court. They also will face voters again in 2021.
With their victories and Wecht’s triumph over Stabile, the court will consist of nine Republicans and six Democrats.
Residents also voted to retain all three Republican Commonwealth Court judges: Renee Cohen Jubelirer, Mary Hannah Leavitt and Robin Simpson. Each won more than 70 percent of the vote.
All three were facing retention for the first time after being elected to the court in 2001 for a 10-year term.
The state Superior Court consists of 15 judges and the Commonwealth Court, nine judges, all of whom face retention elections every 10 years.
Local races were also a mixed bag for Democrats and Republicans.
The GOP won two of the three county commissioner seats in Westmoreland County, a key Pittsburgh suburb held by Democrats.
Eric Boehm covers Pennsylvania politics and government for PA Independent, which is owned by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity.
