Two of the four Lower Carbon County municipalities had contested races in Tuesday's General Election with voters deciding contested races in Palmerton Borough and Towamensing Township.

There were no ballot races in Lower Towamensing Township nor Bowmanstown Borough.Palmerton BoroughThree incumbents and a newcomer won four-year terms on the borough council while a fourth incumbent went down in defeat.The incumbent victors were Democrats Jason Behler, who topped the balloting with 597 votes, and Sherri L. Malik, who won the fourth spot with 455 votes, and Republican Richard L. Nothstein, who finished third with 541 votes. Newcomer Kris Hoffner, a Democrat, finished second with 584 votes.Losing out was incumbent Randolph Gursky, a Democrat who had 360 votes, and Republican Philip J. Binder, who tallied 373.Democrat Brad M. Doll is the new mayor of the community, succeeding retiring Mayor Peter J. Delich. Doll was unopposed for the four-year term, having won both tickets in May, and he collected 750 token votes yesterday.Tax Collector Diane A. Andreas, a Democrat, was also unopposed and won re-election to a four-year term. She received 737 complimentary votes.In the race for a six-year term as constable, Democrat Gavin Oplinger won over Republican Paul Shinsec by a margin of 466 to 369.Other vote totals for poll positions in Palmerton included:District 47 - Republican Alice I. Henning, 172, and Democrat Margaret J. Kuhet, 138, for inspector of elections.District 48 - Democrat Sarina Berlow, 338, for judge of elections; and Republican Lisa Snell Kern, 224, and Democrat Bernard Berlow, 219, for inspector of elections.TowamensingTownshipThere were two races yesterday in Towamensing Township.Tax Collector Mary Beers, a Democrat, was challenged by Republican Jennifer Green in her bid for re-election to another four-year term. Beers won by a margin of 481 to 314.In the race for a six-year term on the board of supervisors, newcomer Thomas F. Newman, a Republican, was the victor, scoring a 582 to 223 win over Democrat Kevin S. Strohl.No one ran for three terms on the township's board of supervisors (2, 4 and 6 years).Other vote totals for poll positions in Towamensing included:District 56 - Republican Helen A. Christman, 191, for judge of elections; and Republican Ricky R. Waibel, 135, and Democrat Wendy K. Hoppel, 85, for inspector of elections.District 57-01 - Democrat Grace Beer, 192, for judge of elections; and Democrat Lois Beer, 135, and Republican Joe Concilio, 129, for inspector of elections.District 57-02 - Democrat Natalie K. Kleintop, 210, for judge of elections; and Democrat Carolyn F. Andrews, 141, and Republican Mary Anne Shafer, 121, for inspector of elections.Lower Towamensing TownshipThere appeared to be no contests to be decided in Lower Towamensing Township yesterday as all of the candidates on the ballot had no ballot opposition. But there ended up being a race for the six-year term on the board of supervisors.Democrat Bernard "Jesse" Mendez, a former supervisor, won both the Democratic and Republican ballots in May, although he faced write-in opposition from Barry Stroup. Both are former supervisors.Mendez received 265 votes on Tuesday while there were 219 write-in votes, obviously not enough to defeat Mendez even if they all went to Stroup.Tax Collector Connie D. Brown, a Democrat, was unopposed in her bid to be re-elected to another four-year term. She received 484 token votes.Also unopposed was Democrat Lamar A. Fronheiser, who collected 426 voted in being elected to a six-year term as constable.There were no candidates for either the six-year or four-year term as auditors.Other vote totals for poll positions in Lower Towamensing included:District 32 - Democrat Margaret "Midge" Klotz, 209, for judge of elections, and Republican Joseph A. Germy Jr., 198, for inspector of elections.District 33 - Republican Stacey N. Arthur, 143, for judge of elections; and Democrat Louise M. Koons, 124, and Republican Marie Dieter, 76, for inspector of elections.BowmanstownBoroughThere were no contests to be decided in Bowmanstown Borough yesterday, as all seven candidates who appeared on the ballot were unchallenged.Mayor Keith G. Billig, a Republican, was re-elected to another four-year term with 126 token votes, while Tax Collector Maria E. Smith, a Democrat, collected 120 complimentary voted in being returned to another four-year term in that position.In the borough council balloting, there were four four-year seats up for grabs, with there only being four candidates. Winning seats were Democrats William H. Ravert and Burdell C. Steigerwalt, with 98 and 92 votes, respectively, and Republicans Chad Everett and Troy L. Muffley, who garnered 134 and 118 votes in that order.The other unopposed candidate was Republican Salvatore Lizzio, who received 120 complimentary votes in being elected to a six-year term as constable.No one ran for the two-year term as assessor in the borough.Republican Paulette M. Keiper received 133 votes for judge of elections and for inspector of elections, Republican Sandra Kuntz received 92 votes, compared to 54 for Democrat Constance J. Berger.PalmertonSchool BoardThere was really one race to be decided for four four-year terms on the Palmerton Area School District Board of Education, since three candidates were cross-filed and there was one candidate each on the Democratic and Republican ballots.The cross-filed candidates who won positions are Barry W. Scherer, who topped the ballot with 1,829 votes, Darlene Yeakel, 1,618, and Clarence "Chuck" Myers, 1,459.For the fourth position, Republican Susan Debski won over Democrat Cindy Gasper by a margin of 1,304 to 982.Voters in Bowmanstown and Palmerton boroughs and Towamensing and Lower Towamensing townships participated in the balloting for the school board seats.