A major glitch in the new voting machines in Northampton County will delay the results in several races, including the one for judge in the court of common pleas.

For an as yet unknown reason, the new machines counted virtually no votes for Democratic candidate Abe Kassis, one of three vying for two seats on the bench.

County District Attorney Democrat John MorganellI, has nailed down one of the two seats since he won both parties nominations in the primaries. Kassis and Republican Victor Scomillio, who entered the race after Judge Kimberly McFadden’s announced retirement in August, appeared only on their own party’s line so are fighting it out for the second seat.

The problem has not only affected this countywide race but it appears as if votes for one of the three candidates for Northampton Area School District – the one that includes Lehigh Township – have not registered either.

Because of these and possibly other problems, Republican County Chair Lee Snover is demanding a complete recount of every race, calling it a “hanging chad” moment, a reference to the problems in the Florida count during the George W. Bush-Al Gore 2000 presidential contest.

Election officials began the recount late Tuesday night, but it will be at least until Wednesday or later until the process is completed. Some candidates said it appears as if the machines had difficulty in races involving cross-filed candidates.

Two county judges – President Judge Michael Koury and Craig Dally, who are running for retention to new 10-year terms – filed lawsuits after they had difficulty casting “yes” ballots for themselves at their respective polling places.

In the other major race in Northampton, Morganelli’s chief assistant, Democrat Terry Houck, had a comfortable lead of more than 3,000 votes over Republican Tom Carroll, but Carroll said he will “not concede anything” until he sees a final official count because of the voting machine issues.

Houck said his campaign strategy worked according to plan. “I’ll keep some things in place, but there will be changes, too,” he said.

Morganelli, who stopped at Houck’s campaign celebration, said as a judicial candidate he cannot support a candidate but joked that he heard that Houck was providing free beer and food.

After serving for 24 years as district attorney, Morganelli said it was “time for me to do something different.” Houck has served as Morganelli’s chief assistant for 13 years.

In the county Controller’s contest, Democrat Tony E. Bassil had a slight lead over Republican Hayden Phillips, but it is too close to call, and write-in votes are not counted on election night with the new machines.

In the county council 4th district (which includes Walnutport and Lehigh Township), Republican Tom Giovanni has won the seat over Democrat Dan Engle by more than 2,400 votes.

In the other contest where votes did not appear to register for a candidate, Robert Mentzell, a Republican, will have to wait until the issue is resolved to determine whether he has won one of the two seats in district 1 of the Northampton Area School Board (including Lehigh Township). Votes for incumbent John Becker, who won both parties nominations in the primary, and Barbara Knoll, a Democratic nominee, did appear to register normally, but this could change.

Lehigh Township will have a new supervisor in 2020. Democrat Michael McGonigle has a comfortable lead over Republican Gerald Pritchard, who defeated incumbent board chair Darryl Snover in the primary.

In Lehigh County, two Republican incumbent members of the Board of Commissioners are in danger of losing their seats. Board Chair Marty Nothstein and Brad Osborne are running sixth and fifth, respectively, in a nine-person race for four seats.

Leading with 100% of the votes counted (but not write-ins), the four Democrats are leading. Incumbent Dan Hartzell is top vote-getter with 29,747, followed by Dave Harrington, 26,047; Bob Elbich, 25,197, and Zakiya Smalls, 24,757.

Osborne had 24,199, and Nothstein, 24,045. Other unsuccessful candidates are Republicans David Nemes, 22,101, and Antonio A. Pineda, 21,936, and Liberty Party candidate Matthew Schutter, 3,389.

Democrat Mark Pinsley is leading incumbent Republican Glenn Eckhart, 28,463 to 27,300 with 100% of the votes counted..

In a five-candidate race for four four-year council seats in Slatington, the leaders are Republicans Kevin Steckel with 335 votes, Joseph C. Wechsler with 279, Democrat Thomas Bartholomew, 273, and Republican Byron C. Reed, 270. Coming in fifth was Republican David R. Schnaars with 250 votes.

Wechsler, with 307 votes, and Bartholomew, with 285 votes, also won seats for two-year seats, so both will have to decide whether to take the longer or shorter terms.

In other Northampton-Lehigh highlights:

Democrat Sal Panto won re-election as Easton mayor by a nearly 5 to 1 margin over Republican firefighter Timothy D. Reilly. Panto said this will probably be his last term. He is completing his third consecutive term and had also served two terms from 1984 to 1992.

Democrat Ray O’Connell, who has been serving as interim Allentown mayor, easily won election over Republican Tim Ramos, so O’Connell will finish the final two years of the term of former Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after being convicted on pay-to-play charges in 2018.