Lackawanna County voter turnout in primary election lowest in years
Lackawanna County's voter turnout of 24.12% in Tuesday's primary election was the lowest in at least 16 years, according to unofficial results.
The ballots not having any high-profile federal or state races, or contested county races, as well as an overall lack of competitive municipal races, likely were factors contributing to the low turnout, some observers said.
As voting ensued throughout Tuesday's election, poll workers around the county remarked about how turnout was thin, Lackawanna County Director of Elections Beth Hopkins said Wednesday.
'They were reporting a very, very slow day at the polls,' Hopkins said.
For comparison, the countywide turnout in recent similar municipal primaries included:
2009: 37.09%
2011: 36.71%
2013: 32.77%
2015: 34.13%
2017: 31.41%
2019: 30.47%
2021: 37.16%
2023: 29.71%
2025: 24.12%
Voter turnout tends to be higher in midterm and presidential election years.
'People, for some reason, don't feel it's important to get out in a primary like this. To me, it's kind of disgusting,' county Republican Party Chairman Dan Naylor said. 'I think we should take every election so very seriously. Twenty-four percent of the people are deciding who's going to be our candidate in the fall, and that's not what you like to see.'
While Scranton had contested races in the primary for mayor, city council and school board, the citywide voter turnout was only 24.23%, or only slightly higher than the countywide turnout.
'There wasn't a lot of interest in the ballot, but this (very low turnout) kind of blows my mind,' county Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick said. 'These are the mayor and councils, the school boards. These are the people that raise the taxes in your towns. They make all the decisions.'
With the electorate deeply divided, both nationally and in the state, voters generally just may be exhausted, he said.
'It seems like people don't want to come out and care,' Patrick said.
In Lackawanna County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans, the Democratic voter turnout in Tuesday's primary was 33.36%, while Republican turnout was 19.36%.
'I never see a big Republican turnout when Donald Trump is not on the ballot,' Patrick said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
10 minutes ago
- Forbes
Justice Department's New White Collar Crime Priorities
Matthew R. Galeotti, the Head of the Criminal Division at the Justice Department has issued a memorandum describing the Justice Department's new policies and enforcement priorities in dealing with collar crime. In describing its areas of focus, the memorandum states 'The Criminal Division must be laser-focused on the most urgent criminal threats to the country. Therefore consistent with the enforcement policies and priorities of this Administration, the Criminal Division will prioritize investigating and prosecuting corporate crime in areas that will have the greatest impact in protecting American Citizens and companies and promoting U.S. interests.' The memorandum lists the following ten areas of white collar crime which the Justice Department is prioritizing: The inclusion of bribery in the list of priorities is noteworthy in the light of President Trump's executive order suspending enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on the basis of it allegedly harming American business competitiveness in international business. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminalizes bribery of foreign officials by American companies. Nor is it reflected in the order to the Manhattan US Attorney to dismiss the bribery charges against NY major Eric Adams that resulted in the resignation of US Attorney Danielle Sassoon who chose to resign rather than follow such an order. Notably missing from the list of priorities is prosecution of income tax fraud. This is particularly noteworthy in the light of a 2021 Treasury report that estimated that the top 1% of earners account for over $160 billion dollars in unpaid taxes annually. However, this is not surprising on the heels of DOGE plans to cut up to 25% of the IRS staff including draconian cuts to the IRS' Criminal Investigations unit which plays an essential role in combating drug and human trafficking, terrorism, tax crimes, financial crimes and money laundering. Also totally missing from the list of priorities is the prosecution of environmental crimes although the global impact of environmental crimes has been estimated by the Financial Action Task Force, a global organization that sets international standards to fight money laundering and terrorist financing to be as high as $281 billion not to mention the cost to society in the destruction of the environment, contamination of naturl resources and public health dangers. In a clear indication of the new goals of the Justice Department, the memorandum states that prosecutors 'must avoid overreach that punishes risk-taking and hinders innovation.' It goes on to say that the Justice Department 'must strike an appropriate balance between the need to effectively identify, investigate, and prosecute corporate and individuals' criminal wrongdoing while minimizing unnecessary burdens on American enterprise.' The famous 2015 memorandum of Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates entitled 'Individual Accountability for Corporate Wrongdoing' which was prompted by criticism of the Justice Department's failure to effectively prosecute individuals in response to the 2008 financial meltdown stressed the intention to prioritize prosecution of individuals for corporate wrongdoing rather than just the corporations themselves. Despite the good intentions to prosecute individuals and thereby provide a true disincentive for white collar criminals to avoid committing such crimes, there was little change in the numbers of individuals prosecuted as compared to actions against corporations which cannot be jailed. For example, 75% of the prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ( the law President Trump is presently suspending enforcement of) in the six years prior to the Yates memorandum were against companies rather than individuals within the companies and from 2015 to 2024 the number of prosecutions against companies rather than their employees or officers remained the same. Similar to the Yates memorandum, the Galeotti memorandum also states that the Justice Department's 'first priority is to prosecute individual criminals. It is individuals – whether executive, officers or employees of companies – who commit these crimes, often at the expense of shareholders, workers, and American investors and consumers. The Criminal Division will investigate these individual wrongdoers relentlessly to hold them accountable.' The words are laudable as they were in the Yates memo. Whether they will turn into action is another matter. The Galeotti memorandum concludes by saying 'Focused, fair, and efficient white-collar enforcement promotes American economic and national security interests while protecting American taxpayers, investors, consumers, and businesses. Results of the Criminal Division's efforts in this regard will be measured by the practical benefits brought to bear for all relevant parties, not symbolic resolutions against shell entities or running up the scoreboard. We will foster cooperative relationships with those in industry that align with the Department in this pursuit, and we will root out the criminal element that works against these goals. As in everything we do, we will do so with integrity and in the interests of justice.' Actions, however, speak louder than words. On the same day that the Galeotti Memorandum was issued, the FBI, the primary criminal investigative arm of the Justice Department, instructed its agents to target their efforts on immigration enforcement and less time on white collar crime enforcement.
CBS News
10 minutes ago
- CBS News
Sui Chung, of Americans for Immigrant Justice, talks about immigration enforcement in Florida
Immigration enforcement Jim talks to Sui Chung, the executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice. The two discuss immigration enforcement here, specifically what is happening inside local detention centers like Krome. She has been documenting the conditions, and shares how they have deteriorated when it comes to overcrowding, as well as access to counsel, and medical care Guest: Sui Chung/Exec. Dir., Americans for Immigrant Justice About the issue The Krome Detention Center may soon house more immigrants under tent structures as overcrowding concerns grow, according to U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson. Family member describes overcrowding conditions Jessica Rodriguez said her husband, Josue Aguilar, 27, was transferred to Krome two weeks ago after being detained at a U.S. immigration services office. Aguilar told her the facility was overcrowded and detainees were lying on the floor. "He would tell me 20 people would be taken out and 50 would come in," she said. Rodriguez reached out to Rep. Wilson, a Democrat representing South Florida, who requested a tour of the immigration facility. Wilson also reviewed social media video reportedly taken by a detainee describing a lack of cleanliness.
Medscape
24 minutes ago
- Medscape
In Pancreatic Cancer, Does New PAXG Beat Out mFOLFIRINOX?
CHICAGO — For patients with pancreatic resectable stage I-Ill pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), neoadjuvant chemotherapy can help improve overall survival compared with upfront surgery. But what chemotherapy regimen provides the best survival outcomes? Findings from the phase 3 CASSANDRA PACT-21 trial, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2025 Annual Meeting, revealed that a newer regimen — PAXG chemotherapy — significantly prolonged event-free survival compared with standard-of-care chemotherapy with mFOLFIRINOX. Although immature, the overall survival data suggest that PAXG — capecitabine, cisplatin, nab-paclitaxel, and gemcitabine — may beat out mFOLFIRINOX — oxaliplatin, irinotecan, leucovorin, and 5-fluorouracil. PAXG also led to a significant improvement in key secondary outcomes, including the disease control rate, pathological stage, and detection of intraoperative or early postoperative metastases. Should these findings change practice? PAXG appears to be the 'most suitable option' for neoadjuvant treatment of these patients, reported Michele Reni, MD, with the Department of Medical Oncology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, who presented the findings at ASCO. However, study discussant Brian Wolpin, MD, MPH, is not yet ready to call PAXG the new standard of care. While preoperative PAXG is a 'very promising approach with the potential to change standard of care, more follow-up is needed, particularly overall survival data, to decide whether it should change our standard of care,' said Wolpin, chair of pancreatic cancer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. In other words, the data are 'not quite sufficient' at this point to change standard of care, Wolpin said. The CASSANDRA PACT-21 trial enrolled 261 patients aged 75 and younger with treatment-naive stage I-III resectable or borderline resectable PDAC and a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) greater than 60%. After CA19-9 stratification, 133 were randomly allocated to PAXG and 128 to mFOLFIRINOX administered every 14 days for 4 months. After this, a second randomization was performed, with patients assigned to receive either 2 additional months of the same chemotherapy regimen followed by surgery, or surgery followed by the same chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was event-free survival, defined as absence of progression, recurrence, two consecutive CA19-9 increases ≥ 20% separated by at least 4 weeks, unresectability, intraoperative metastasis, or death. Median follow-up was 24.5 months in the PAXG group and 26 months in the mFOLFIRINOX group. In the final analysis, with 179 events, median event-free survival was 16 months with PAXG vs 10 months with mFOLFIRINOX. The 3-year event-free survival rate was 31% with PAXG vs 13% with mFOLFIRINOX (hazard ratio [HR], 0.64; P = .003). Subgroup analyses showed a doubling of 3-year event-free survival with PAXG over mFOLFIRINOX in the resectable group (41% vs 22%) and borderline resectable group (19% vs 9%), Reni noted. Reni said the overall survival data are immature, but favor PAXG over mFOLFIRINOX, with median overall survival of 37 months vs 26 months and a 3-year overall survival rate of 51% vs 40% (HR, 0.70; P = .07). Regarding key secondary endpoints, PAXG significantly improved the disease control rate (98% vs 91%), CA19-9 response ≥ 50% rate (88% vs 64%), pathological complete response rate (3% vs 0%), N0 resection rate (36% vs 23%), and detection of intra- or postoperative metastases (5% vs 12%). The secondary endpoints 'add some additional evidence' suggesting that PAXG may be an effective regimen compared to mFOLFIRINOX, Wolpin told ASCO attendees. In terms of adverse events, no statistically significant difference was detected, except for a higher rate of grade 3-4 neutropenia in the PAXG group (42% vs 29%), Reni reported. There was a trend toward worse score in nausea/vomiting scale in the mFOLFIRINOX group at 4 months compared with baseline. At 4 months, both groups had clinically meaningful deterioration in fatigue, taste, weight loss concern, and hepatic symptoms. In his discussion, Wolpin noted that even though PAXG looks like it may be a more effective therapy in preventing recurrence, the event-free survival rate was still only 31% at 3 years. "This really shows that we may hit a plateau with what we can do with chemotherapy and surgery, and there has to be some additional thought and implementation of biologically driven therapies,' he explained. Looking to the future, 'I eagerly await further survival data from the CASSANDRA trial," alongside other relevant trial data from PREOPANC-3 and ALLIANCE A021806, to "help define the appropriate therapy for these patients," Wolpin said.
