In addition to voting in this year for governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. Congress and Pa. House and Senate seats, Carbon County voters will select members of the Democratic and Republican parties to represent them on state and county committees.

The bylaws of the Democratic Party call for one committeeman and one committeewoman from each of the 51 election precincts to be elected this year.On the Republican side, its bylaws are a little different from that of their counterparts. The GOP elects committee persons on an at-large basis in each municipality.Each party also elects one person to serve on the Democratic and Republican state committees.Attorney Carol Wildoner Walbert of Jim Thorpe currently serves on the Democratic State Committee and she is running for re-election to another four-year term. She is unopposed. Carbon County has two seats on the state committee. Besides the elected state committee member, the party chairman, Billy O'Gurek Jr. of Summit Hill, has a seat on the state panel.The Republicans will also elect one person to serve on the Republican State Committee. Gilbert Gerhard, Packer Township, is the current state committee member from Carbon.Committee personsAs per each of the parties' bylaws, the Democrats will elect 102 committee persons this time around.As of the latest filings in the Carbon County Board of Elections the candidates include:Edith Lukasevich and Patrick D. Crowley, both of District 14, and Patricia Herman, District 18, all of Jim Thorpe; Edward Dorman, District 23, Leonard Sniscak, District 24, Jacqueline Mitchell, District 25, Donna Valent, District 23, and Kara Krajnak, District 24, all of Lansford; Dana Lee Phipps, District 29, Lehighton; Christopher D. Olivia, District 48, Palmerton; Linda Christman and Roy Christman, both of District 56, Towamensing Township; Arnold R. Selert and Mildred Selert, both of District 58, Weatherly; Irene Makowiec and Joseph J. Bodnar Jr., both of Banks Township; Barbara and Robert Tissier, both of Lehigh Township; Sue Ann Lewine, District 36, Mahoning Township; and Earl and Michele Titus, both of Packer Township.The Republican bylaws call for at-large voting for committee persons by municipality, as follows: 16 in Penn Forest Township, eight each in Towamensing and Franklin townships, seven each in Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton boroughs and Mahoning Township, five in East Penn Township, four each in Lansford, Nesquehoning, Summit Hill and Weatherly boroughs and Lower Towamensing Township, three each in Kidder Township South and Packer Township, and two each in Banks, Lausanne and Lehigh townships, Kidder Township North and Beaver Meadows, Bowmanstown, East Side, Parryville and Weissport boroughs.As of the latest filings in the county elections office (as of Monday afternoon), only one Republican filed petitions to seek one of the 109 positions. That is Wallace Putkowski, who is running for a committeeperson position in Mahoning's District 35.