Laurels & lances: Primary election edition

Laurel: To the voters. The discrepancy in voter turnout for a primary versus a general election is often decried. So is the differences in the lines at the polls in a presidential year as opposed to the other three years in the cycle. Heck, we pointed out just that in our Tuesday editorial while urging people to do their civic duty.

Maybe it was the excitement of a gubernatorial year or the rarity of having a U.S. Senate seat on the ballot without an incumbent in the running. Maybe it was the attention those races have been garnering in both our own backyards and in the national spotlight. Maybe it was the high level endorsements the candidates were picking up along the way.

Whatever it was, Pennsylvania voters did their part.

In Allegheny County, turnout was up over norms for a primary — even in the midterms, which generally have lower turnout than presidential years but more than those dominated by municipal or county races. More than 36% of registered voters showed up.

“I think (the higher turnout) is going to stay this high,” said Allegheny County Democratic Chair Eileen Kelly. “I think people are going to get back into voting (because) they realize nowadays that they need to express their voice.”

In Westmoreland County, the numbers were even higher, with more than 41% of Republicans and almost 40% of Democrats registered actually casting a ballot. The numbers reflect a similar trend across the state.

Lance: To the campaigns. In the governor’s race, one can look at the last-minute dropouts of major candidates who then endorsed former foes with skepticism.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County, and former congresswoman Melissa Hart — both nowhere near the top of polling but with respectable chunks of support — dropped out within days of the primary and threw their support toward Lou Barletta, the less controversial of the two leading candidates.

This read as exactly what it was: an attempt to stop the momentum of state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a firebrand with the support of not just former President Donald Trump but former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

It didn’t work. Mastriano walked handily to first place with more votes than Barletta and third-place Bill McSwain combined. His win was one of the first called Tuesday night.

But speaking of Corman, he had to do the lieutenant governor job due to John Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke.

That ailment was announced Sunday. The stroke happened Friday. On Tuesday, while the polls were still open, he was having a pacemaker with defibrillator implanted to treat the condition that led to his stroke — a blood clot caused by atrial fibrillation.

One could argue that not disclosing the lieutenant governor’s condition earlier might have been unfair to his main opponent, second-place finisher Rep. Conor Lamb.

However, it was definitely not fair to the people who voted — especially those who cast no-excuse mail-in ballots between Friday and Sunday and deserved to make informed decisions.

As all the candidates for all races move forward to the general election, they should keep in mind that the people are the ones who make the choice of their leaders, and they need complete, honest information to do so.