Tuesday’s elections included razor-thin margins

Nearly 2 million voters made choices in Tuesday’s elections for seats on the state Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court, and the winning margins ranged from narrow to next to nothing.

The widest spread — casting Republican candidate Sallie Mundy over Democrat Dwayne Woodruff for the Supreme Court seat — was less than 5 percent.

The appellate court races, however, made that look like a runaway.

With state officials Wednesday evening still reporting 45 of 9,162 voting districts yet to verify their totals, it was clear that the top three vote-getters for 10-year terms on the Superior Court were Democratic newcomers Deborah Kunselman, Maria McLaughlin and Carolyn Nichols.

But the fourth available seat on the 15-member panel was still a toss-up between Republicans Mary Murray, a magisterial district judge in Allegheny County, and Craig Stedman, district attorney of Lancaster County. The two were separated by less than 4,500 votes — or a percentage of .06 — with Judge Murray holding the slight edge.

The race for the two seats on the Commonwealth Court was also close, yet more decisive.

Republican Christine Fizzano Cannon, a judge on the Delaware County Common Pleas Court, and Democratic candidate Ellen Ceisler, a judge on the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, each won a 10-year term by a margin of several thousand votes.

But the percentage of votes for each of the four Commonwealth Court candidates was surprisingly close, ranging from 25.8 percent for the top vote-getter to a not-so-distant 23.7 for the fourth-place finisher.

Superior Court hears appeals in criminal and most civil cases.

Commonwealth Court is responsible for lawsuits involving state and local governments and regulatory agencies.

Officials with the Department of State, which monitors elections, could not be reached to comment on when the final totals might be confirmed.

• In Allegheny County Council races, there was a close election in the northern suburbs of District 3. Incumbent Republican Ed Kress slipped behind challenger Anita Prizio, who held tight to a burgeoning lead by Wednesday morning to eventuallywin the council seat.

In District 1, incumbent Republican Tom Baker was in a tight race all night long against Democratic challenger Jack Betkowski. In the end, Mr. Baker hung on, receiving 50.3 percent of the vote to Mr. Betkowski’s 49 percent.