Mar 23, 2017 2 min read

The GOP contender trying to unseat the longtime Washington County sheriff won’t appear on the primary ballot.

In an order filed Thursday, Senior Judge John C. Reed found that enough signatures on David L. Criss’ nominating petitions were defective to leave the Monongahela Republican short of the 250 he needed to appear on the ballot in the May 16 primary.

Shawn Trapuzzano – a South Strabane Township Republican who is listed in campaign-finance disclosures from previous years as the treasurer of Sheriff Sam Romano’s election committee – objected to Criss’ bid for the party nomination.

Romano, a Democrat, was first elected in 2005 and is seeking a fourth term.

Trapuzzano argued some of the signatures on Criss’ nominating petition were defective, some because people were “unqualified due to wrong party affiliation,” others who “failed to complete the required information, including signatures, printed names, address, municipality, and/or date of signing,” some who failed to complete the required personal information in their own handwriting or whose names on the paperwork didn’t match voter registration records, and one who “appears to have signed on two separate occasions,” Reed noted in a memorandum opinion accompanying his order.

Ronald Brown, Trapuzzano’s attorney, called county elections director Larry Spahr and handrwiting expert Michelle Dresobold to testify in support of his clent’s challenge during a hearing before Reed Tuesday.

The judge found 33 of the 276 signatures on Criss’ nominating petition defective, leaving him with seven fewer than he needed.

Reed also held a brief hearing Tuesday during which attorney Chad Schneider – who represents district judge candidate Jacob Machel – informed the judge that his client’s opponent, Ryan Welsch, had dropped out of the race on March 16.

That would leave Machel as the sole contender on the ballot for the seat District Judge James Ellis will leave when he retires at the end of the year.

Both Machel and Welsch are Republicans from Peters Township.

In a petition filed two days before Welsch dropped out, Machel alleged his rival had filed elections paperwork that was “defective due to signers not registered with the proper party, the proper district, inadequate signatures, inadequate information accompanying signatures, respondent does not meet the one-year residency requirement and affidavits of circulator and candidate are inaccurate.”