Carbon County officials say that the deadline to register for the upcoming April primary will not be extended because of a solar eclipse that will happen on the same day as the deadline.

On Thursday, Carbon County Commissioners’ Chairman Michael Sofranko squashed the rumors circulating around social media of an extension because of the eclipse.

“Carbon County will not be extending any dates,” he said. “We will follow the calendar set forth by the state.”

Sofranko noted that he has fielded several calls asking about this action and the eclipse and felt it necessary to set the record straight.

“We’re all going to experience the solar eclipse and we’ll all see the next day at the same time,” he added, noting that Carbon County is not in the direct path of the full solar eclipse like the western portion of the state. “Please don’t call and ask because it’s not happening.”

Jennifer Ketchledge, elections director, confirmed that her office will be open and operating on April 8 and will remain open until 5 p.m. that day for anyone needing to meet the deadline to register to vote for the upcoming election.

Some western counties, such as Erie County, which is in the path of the upcoming total eclipse, has moved the deadline to April 9.

The total solar eclipse will take place in the afternoon on April 8. It will cross North America, with peak viewing in a line arcing through Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, the very northwestern tip of Pennsylvania, New York and beyond into Canada.

Other areas, such as Carbon and surrounding eastern counties, will still see a partial eclipse, but it will not be a total eclipse.

For more information on the upcoming eclipse, visit https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses. For more information on important upcoming deadlines for the April primary in Carbon County, visit https://www.carboncountypa.gov/services and select Elections/Voter Registration. In other election business, Commissioner Wayne Nothstein aired his frustration with the lack of answers from the Pennsylvania Department of State regarding some new election regulations.

“They tell you, ‘talk to your county solicitor,’ but we have 67 county solicitors so there are 67 (interpretations),” he said, noting that this was discussed at a recent County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania meeting. “Maybe they should come out and really give us a straight answer. How long do you have to work on something before they can tell us what they want out of this?

“Without some concrete guidelines, it really exposes us to liabilities as well if we don’t have those defined rules and policies.”

Nothstein didn’t go into detail on what new regulations have been announced for counties.

Ketchledge also pointed out that the last day to mail out ballots to those who have requested them is April 9, however Carbon County has yet to get them printed due to two appeals currently working its way through the courts regarding two candidates on the ballot.

Once she gets the OK, the ballots will be printed and mailed.