Who Will Win the Democratic Nod for South Whitehall Commissioner?

Whether there will be a contest in the fall for the three South Whitehall Township commissioner seats is not yet known.

No Democrats were on the ballot, but several of the six Republican candidates also ran write-in campaigns. The write-ins were not counted Tuesday night, and Lehigh County voter registration officials have said it could be two to three weeks before those tallies are released with the official primary counts.

For the three commissioner candidates who won Republican nominations in the primary -- , and incumbent , according to -- "the perfect storm" would be for those candidates to also have won the Democratic nods, Block said.

That would virtually assure them a win in the November general election because there would be no competition.

However, if any of the other candidates in the race win the Democratic nod -- namely, and -- they will square off with the Republican nominees in the fall.

Hite, who went door-to-door and to the polls to meet voters, said he is not sure how he will have fared with his write-in campaign since the process can be challenging for voters. He fell just 38 votes shy of winning a nomination.

"It was disappointing," Hite said. However, he said he will stay on the township planning commission and continue to serve South Whitehall residents.

"I respect the voter and who they chose," said Hite. "That's what's good about the American process."

He said he learned a lot during the campaign -- what to do, what not to do -- and may run again in the future.

According to unofficial tallies, vote totals were as follows: Block was the highest vote-getter with 804 votes; Bond received 658 votes; and Daubert received 455 votes.

Block, who also went door-to-door to meet voters over five weeks and was at the polls, said he is optimistic about his write-in campaign on the Democratic side. He said he spent time explaining the process to voters.

However, he and candidate David Bond said there could have been some confusion between the township commissioner and the Lehigh County commissioner races. Bond said some voters had told him they had written in his name for the Democratic nod -- but in the county commissioner race.

Rodriquez, a retired engineer and former South Whitehall commissioner, came closest to winning a Republican nomination, according to unofficial tallies. He received 446 votes to Daubert's 455 votes. Rodriquez could not be immediately reached on Wednesday about the write-in vote.

He previously served as township commissioner from 1988 to 1992, and again from 1998 to 2009. He has served as both board vice president and president.

Daubert, who has strong name recognition in the township given his years of service, did not overtly campaign for the nomination, other candidates and township residents say. His yard contained just one campaign sign, and that was for Brad Osborne, who was running for county commissioner.

Heidi McMahon apparently did not overtly campaign either, other candidates say. She received 255 votes in the unofficial count.