Voting in the Panther Valley communities of Lansford, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill will see contested races in two of the communities in the general election Tuesday.

The voters in Lansford and Nesquehoning have choices to make. There are challenges for both mayor's positions, as well as borough council positions in the two communities.There are no contested races in Summit Hill. Likewise, no challenges exist in the Panther Valley School District balloting, which also includes Coaldale Borough.Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in each of the county's 51 election precincts, after which time the results will be tabulated at the county's election bureau in Jim Thorpe.Lansford BoroughLansford Borough voters have two contested races on the ballot, that of mayor and also the borough council's race.Mayor Ronald B. Hood, a Republican, is seeking re-election to another four-year term, but he has a challenge from Democrat James Romankow.In the council race, four candidates are running for three four-year terms. Newcomer Colin Jones, a Democrat, was successful as a write-in candidate in the primary and won both a Democratic and Republican nomination. He is joined on the Democratic ticket by incumbent Leonard S. Kovach and John Williams, while joining him on the Republican slate is Martin S. Ditsky.The terms of current council members Samantha Yasson and Danielle Smith are expiring at the end of this year. They did not seek re-election.There is no contest in the tax collector's race where the incumbent, Daniel J. Wynn, a Democrat, has held the position for decades. He is unopposed on both ballots.NesquehoningBoroughThree people are running for the position of Nesquehoning Mayor, including incumbent Democrat K. Tony Walck, who aspires to another four-year term.He faces opposition from Republican Michael Frey and newcomer Sam Kitchko, who is registered as having no party affiliation. Frey and Walck finished in a tie among GOP write-in votes in the primary, with Frey winning the tiebreaker conducted by the county's elections bureau, while Kitchko filed the necessary paperwork to get on the ballot after the primary election.Meanwhile, there is also a contested race for three four-year terms on the borough council. The candidates are incumbent Democrats Mary Fox and Rose Sniscak Walck and Michael T. Sniscak. The fourth candidate is incumbent David Hawk, a former Republican and an incumbent, who changed his registration to Independent and, like Kitchko, also filed the necessary paperwork to get on the ballot after the Primary Election.The late Richard Zabroski, a Republican, won a nomination from his party in the primary. The party did not fill the ballot position after his passing.Tax collector Patricia R. Vito, a Democrat, is running for re-election to another four-year term of office. She is unopposed.Summit HillSix incumbent Democrats running to retain their positions in Summit Hill's government are all unopposed.They include Mayor Paul R. McArdle, council members William J. O'Gurek Jr., John J. O'Gurek Jr., William Chapman and Gregory V. Kosciolek and tax collector Alice Kane. All of them are seeking four-year terms, except Kosciolek who is running for a two-year term on the council. He was appointed to the unexpired term of Francis O'Gorman while William O'Gurek was appointed to the unexpired term of Harry Miller.There are no Republican candidates for any of the positions.PVSD boardThere are no apparent contests in the balloting for four four-year terms on the Panther Valley School District Board of Education as only four candidates' names appear on the ballots.They include incumbents Irene Genther, John Williams and Brian Dolena, whose names appear on both the Democratic and Republican ballots, and newcomer Daniel J. Heaney, who is only on the Democratic ballot.Gether initially won a Republican nomination, but was appointed by the Carbon County Democrats to fill the fourth ballot position created upon the death of incumbent Richard Zabroski. He had won nominations from both parties.The district includes nine voting districts from Lansford, Nesquehoning and Summit Hill, as well as the town of Coaldale in Schuylkill County.