Democratic Lackawanna County Clerk of Judicial Records Lauren Bieber Mailen filed a lawsuit the day before last week’s municipal election seeking to block certification of the special election for clerk of judicial records she ultimately won.
She then withdrew the lawsuit Wednesday after comfortably defeating Republican Susanne Preambo Green and independent candidate Colleen Eagen Gerrity in the Nov. 4 special election to fill the remainder of former Democratic Clerk Mauri Kelly’s unexpired term running into early January 2028.
Mailen, appointed to the position in early September pursuant to a county Home Rule Charter process, will hold it for the balance of Kelly’s unexpired term by virtue of her special election victory.
The lawsuit she filed in county court and later withdrew sought an injunction to prevent the Lackawanna County Board of Elections “from certifying, or attempting to seat” the special election’s winner. It named the board of elections and county elections Director Beth Hopkins as defendants.
In addition to the injunction prohibiting certification, the lawsuit also sought a declaratory judgement that the defendants’ “attempt to conduct an election for the office of Clerk of Judicial Records of Lackawanna County at the November 4, 2025 municipal election is unlawful and void.”
The county board of elections voted Sept. 3 to declare the special election for clerk of judicial records, with Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan and county Judge Terrence R. Nealon, sitting in their election board capacities, voting in favor and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak abstaining. It mirrored a vote the board conducted the week prior to declare a special election to fill the remainder of former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin’s unexpired term — an action that prompted separate litigation.
Mailen’s lawsuit argued Pennsylvania’s Election Code does not authorize county boards of elections to call special elections to fill vacancies in county executive branch row offices. Even if a special election could eventually be held to fill the clerk of judicial records vacancy, such a vacancy could only be filled under state law during a municipal election if that election took place at least 90 days after the vacancy occurred, her suit also maintained.
Because the special election was scheduled for about 62 days after the row office became vacant, far fewer than 90, the Nov. 4 election “cannot legally be used to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term,” the suit claimed.
It warned that allowing the defendants to proceed could result in “two competing claimants to the same office.” That outcome never came to pass, as Mailen won the special election with 26,894 votes to Green’s 20,115 and Gerrity’s 15,292. She withdrew the suit the next day.
Efforts to reach Mailen directly Monday were not immediately successful, nor were efforts to secure Mailen’s comment through her attorney, Matthew Comerford.
The candidates Mailen defeated in the special election, Green and Gerrity, offered different takes on the matter.
Green said she isn’t surprised Mailen filed the suit, noting she would have defended her victory in court had she won instead of Mailen.
“I’m not surprised at it at all, she was protecting her interest,” Green said of Mailen. “If I had won, I would have challenged that, however I wish her luck. I did meet Lauren and … if she would like my help at any time in the future I’d be happy to do so.”
While Gerrity is disappointed in the results, she said she respects the election process.
“It’s unfortunate that Lauren had no intention of doing the same if she lost,” Gerrity said in a statement.
The suit Mailen filed and withdrew is similar to one the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee and other plaintiffs, including Brenda Sacco, then a candidate for a commissioner appointment she ultimately secured, filed in early September. That suit sought declaratory relief and an injunction to block the special election for commissioner, arguing state law doesn’t provide for special elections to fill commissioner vacancies. It also argued the county election board lacked the authority to declare such a special election.
A panel of county judges denied the injunction in that case and a state Commonwealth Court judge later affirmed the denial, allowing the special election to proceed. Democrat Thom Welby, the county Democratic Committee-nominated candidate, won the commissioner special election by defeating Republican Chet Merli and independent candidate Michael Cappellini.
County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick said late last week the Democratic Committee was withdrawing the lawsuit, clearing the path for Welby to replace Sacco as commissioner after the special election results are certified.