Lackawanna County officials are considering holding a special election Nov. 4 to fill former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin’s vacant seat, something they previously said state law didn’t allow.
The specific legal basis for the change in position was not immediately clear, but county Solicitor Donald Frederickson said it stems from recent court decisions in the ongoing legal battle over replacing McGloin and other legal precedents officials weren’t aware of when McGloin resigned in late February. Frederickson and Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan said officials will lay out why they now feel a special election is appropriate and permissible at a county election board meeting Friday.
The election board made up of Gaughan, Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak and county Judge Terrence R. Nealon — who replaced McGloin in his election board capacity following the former commissioner’s resignation — will meet at 9 a.m. Members will consider two motions, one to declare a special election to fill the vacant commissioner seat and another to declare a special election to fill the elected clerk of judicial records row office that Mauri Kelly will vacate early next month, according to an online meeting agenda posted late Wednesday.
In both cases the special elections would fill the seats pursuant to a section of the county Home Rule Charter related to vacancies that reads: “A special election according to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be held at the next primary municipal or general election to permanently fill the vacancy.”
Officials said shortly after McGloin’s resignation that the special election section of the charter didn’t apply in McGloin’s case because of the “according to the Laws of the Commonwealth” language, since state law doesn’t call for special elections to fill commissioner vacancies. But their position has apparently evolved, with Gaughan endorsing a special election Wednesday.
“I am in support of having this (election board) meeting on Friday and of having a special election,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do and I will be making a statement at the meeting which will have much more detail.”
The forthcoming meeting comes after Gaughan and the county initiated litigation in March challenging a process also contained in the Home Rule Charter that tasks the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee with submitting the names of three potential candidates to fill the vacancy for consideration by the commissioned judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. That process played out in late February when the committee advanced former county Economic Development Director Branda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey as finalists.
The judges have not moved to fill the seat with any of the three amid the ongoing legal battle. Absent a special election, the appointee would fill the rest of McGloin’s term expiring in early January 2028.
Gaughan and the county argued in court that the aforementioned charter process violated a state rule of judicial administration that would effectively remove the county Democratic Committee from the replacement process and place it solely in the hands of the county court judges.
The majority of a panel of three senior county judges ruled in May in favor of the charter process, handing Gaughan and the county a court loss and the Democratic Committee a win. The decision was subsequently appealed, with a trio of state Commonwealth Court judges later affirming the county panel’s ruling. Gaughan and the county have requested the state Supreme Court review and reverse the Commonwealth Court decision, but that request remains pending.
The upcoming vote to hold a special election is the latest development in the monthslong vacancy battle.
Efforts to reach Lackawanna County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick were not immediately successful, but Patrick has repeatedly defended and backed his committee’s process that saw Sacco, Baldan and Casey advance as finalists for the McGloin vacancy.
Chermak said he’s reviewing the special election matter and plans to comment at Friday’s meeting.
That officials are considering a special election this year to fill the clerk of judicial records position is also a new development. Frederickson previously said a special election to fill the seat wouldn’t be held until the primary election of 2027, because state law doesn’t allow for a municipal election to be held the same year as a federal election and the 2026 cycle includes the congressional midterms.
But he said Wednesday that the timing of Kelly’s pending resignation would allow the special election to take place this year after all. Kelly announced plans in May to resign Sept. 2.
Friday’s meeting will be held at the county government center in downtown Scranton.