Apr 18, 2023 4 min read

The Republican candidate challenging Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough will remain on the ballot for the May 16 primary election after a judge threw out her petition trying to stop him from running.

In an eight-page order filed Monday, Judge Michael Lucas rejected Hough’s election challenge against Kevin Hill’s nomination after she took exception with his work status being listed as “self-employed” in his candidacy paperwork.

Lucas made the ruling after previously denying Hough’s challenge following a March 21 hearing in which he determined Hill was not properly served court paperwork notifying him of the proceeding. Hough’s attorney, Sean Logue, appealed the ruling to the state Commonwealth Court, which ordered Lucas to make a decision on the merits of the case form evidence and testimony presented during the hour-long hearing last month.

While Hill stated in January that he was unemployed, he testified during the challenge hearing that he considered himself “self-employed” because he began selling some of his personal sports memorabilia collection on an online auction site in February, which had netted him about $500 during that brief period.

In his ruling, Lucas wrote that Hill “did not falsify information in his Nominating Petition nor did he attempt to mislead the electorate” by writing that he was self-employed in the occupation area of his election paperwork.

“Mr. Hill credibly testified that prior to the circulation of his nomination petition he was engaged in selling sports memorabilia for income,” Lucas wrote in his order. “His testimony established that he continues to engage in that commercial endeavor as an effort to fund his campaign and as a means to make money.”

In a written statement released Monday afternoon, Hill lauded the ruling and blasted the efforts by the incumbent prothonotary and her attorney to try to remove him from the ballot. Hill, of Mt. Pleasant Township, also thanked Lucas for leaving it up to the voters to decide who should run for office.

“It was not only a waste of court time, but an attack on our democratic process,” Hill said in his statement. “The real winners today are the citizens and voters of Washington County. We live in the greatest country in the world in part because of our free and fair elections, including the electorate picking candidates that will run on the ballot. This isn’t a dictatorship in which candidates are predetermined or decided by those already in charge. I refuse to back down and allow the freedom of Washington County voters to be taken away and be bullied by incumbent candidates and party leaders with self-serving agendas.”

Logue, who is the prothonotary office’s solicitor and chairman of the Washington County Republican Party, was non-committal about whether they would appeal again to the state Commonwealth Court on the merits of the ruling.

“I haven’t decided what we’re going to do yet,” Logue said Monday. “We respect the decision and we’ll be exploring all options.”

The ruling allows the county’s elections office to move forward with printing mail-in and absentee ballots while also performing the state-mandated testing on the voting machines ahead of the primary. Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said the appeal delayed her ability to distribute mail-in and absentee ballots until the situation was resolved, but she now expects to begin mailing them out early next week.

“I have everything ready to go,” Ostrander said.

However, it’s unclear what will happen if Hough again appeals to the state Commonwealth Court, although the appellate court in the past has been hesitant to overrule decisions by Court of Common Pleas judges involving other election challenges across the state.

“If they appeal further, and there is a ruling, we’ll have to address it with the court on how to handle it,” Ostrander said.

Hough, of West Pike Run Township, is running for her second term as prothonotary after first winning the row office position in 2019. Sandy Sabot of North Franklin is the lone Democrat running for prothonotary, and she is expected to face the winner of the Republican primary between Hough and Hill in the November general election.

The deadline to request mail-in or absentee ballots is May 9, and voters must return their completed ballots no later than 8 p.m. May 16. The final day for people to register to vote or change their party affiliation is May 1.