by peter e. bortner
The chairman of the Schuylkill County Democratic Party is challenging the nominating petition of one of nine candidates for the Pottsville Area school board.
In a petition filed Tuesday, Hugh Reiley, Pottsville, alleged that John A. Deatrich Jr., Palo Alto, does not have 100 valid signatures on his petition for the Democratic nominations for one of the four board seats up for election this year.
Reiley asked that Deatrich's name be struck from the Democratic ballot, which would effectively remove him from consideration by the voters in the May 21 primary election.
Deatrich is the only candidate who did not cross-file for both Republican and Democratic nomination, so if his Democratic petition is disqualified, he would not appear on the ballot.
In his petition, Reiley alleged that Deatrich's petition has 16 names that cannot legally appear on it.
Of those 16, five do not live at the address given, eight do not live in the Pottsville Area School District and three are registered Republicans and cannot sign a Democratic nominating petition, Reiley alleged.
Reiley alleged that without those 16, Deatrich's petition does not contain 100 valid signatures. Therefore, Deatrich's name cannot appear on the Democratic ballot and should be struck from it, according to Reiley.
The eight other candidates for the board are John F. Boran, Robert DeColli, Christina M. DiCello, Patricia Hoak, Rhonda M. Johnson, Alexandra Maskerines Kalinich, Patrick F. Moran and Charles Wagner. All have filed for both the Republican and Democratic nominations.
