Carbon County is gearing up for the upcoming primary election.

On Thursday, Lisa Dart, director of the county elections office, told the election board that they are about halfway done with programming the voting machines for the April 26 election.Carbon County will deploy a total of 137 machines at the precincts in anticipation of a higher than normal voter turnout due to the presidential election. Of the 137 machines, Carbon County rented 15 of them to guarantee enough equipment."Hopefully everything will go smoothly for us," Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said.The voter registration totals of eligible voters who may participate in the April election include 18,220 Democrats, 16,260 Republicans and 5,685 other parties for a total of 40,165 voters.One question that still remains though is whether or not a referendum asking to change a judge's mandatory retirement age from 70 to 75 will be on the ballot.The Legislature recently signed a petition to delay the referendum until the general election in November so that all voters can vote on the matter.On Thursday, three Democrats in the Pennsylvania Senate filed a lawsuit asking a court to order the state to proceed with a referendum on the primary ballot about whether judges should be able to serve until they turn 75, extending the mandatory judicial retirement age by five years.No final decision has been sent out as of yet, Dart said.In other election matters, the board voted to fill a vacancy on the Weatherly West precinct election officials.Robin Spring Bloom will serve as judge of elections for the upcoming election.