Sainato routs his opponent; Drobac wins
Lawrence election officials dealt with computer problems and human error.
& lt;a href=mailto:cioffi@vindy.com & gt;By LAURE CIOFFI & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- State Rep. Chris Sainato of New Castle easily cruised into the Democratic Party nomination for the 9th District.
"I'm pleased. This is the highest vote total I've ever received," said Sainato around 10 p.m. Tuesday.
With about 30 precincts uncounted, Sainato was leading with 3,334 votes to his opponent Audrey Kraner's 739.
Kraner, of Neshannock Township, was unwilling to concede with that many precincts still uncounted in Lawrence County. Kraner was unavailable for comment during a return call at midnight. A woman answering the telephone said Kraner was in bed and could not be disturbed.
Lawrence County election officials worked well into the morning hours to fix computer problems and then human error that left them without final tallies.
One of the county's five machines that processes paper ballots did not record the 30 precincts that were scanned into it, said Lawrence County Commissioner Steve Craig.
The ballots were gathered and tallied in other machines, but when the final tally was completed, the county total showed that 108 precincts had been counted. Lawrence County has 106 precincts.
It was unclear how long it would take to sort out the problem, Craig said around 12:30 this morning.
Sainato will likely face no opposition in the fall with no Republicans on the ballot in the primary. He has already spent 10 years as the state representative in the 9th District. He said he also waged a Republican write-in campaign.
4th District
The only other contested race that directly impacted Lawrence and Mercer counties was the nomination for the Democratic candidate for the 4th Congressional District.
Stevan Drobac Jr. of Center Township was the apparent winner, defeating Eric Wafer, an immigration attorney also from Beaver County.
Drobac, a retired police officer and furloughed USAir employee, will take a second try at defeating incumbent Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, who is seeking her third term. The district includes Lawrence, Beaver and parts of Mercer, Butler, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
Drobac attributed his win over Wafer to a grass-roots campaign he has been running since his loss to Hart two years ago.
Drobac said he's prepared to challenge Hart, despite her sizable campaign contributions. Campaign contribution records show that Hart, who was unopposed in the primary, has $323,782.71 to Drobac's $327.
Drobac said he has no fund-raisers planned but should get some started in the next few weeks.
"I think my chances are much better this time," Drobac said.