Share:
Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 4, 2020 01:42 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Scott Martin |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Number of Votes to Qualify as a Write-In Winner |
| In the near future, I will reintroduce Senate Bill 417 from last session and ask for your consideration in co-sponsoring the legislation. In order to have one’s name on a ballot in the Commonwealth, they need to first submit the minimum number of nomination petition signatures specified in section 912.1 of the Pennsylvania Election Code. However, a person whose name does not appear on the ballot can be elected by voters who write in his or her name on the ballot. Sometimes there are unintended consequences with write-in candidates. For example, someone may decide to write in another person’s name regardless of their interest in or qualifications for the position, and the individual is elected due to that single write-in vote. This proposed legislation would require a write-in candidate to receive a number of write-in votes that meets or exceeds the number of nomination petition signatures they otherwise would have been required to produce to be on the ballot in order to win the elected office. For example, if ten petition signatures are required for a given office, a write-in candidate would need to receive a minimum of ten identical write-in votes to be elected to that office. Thank you for your consideration. |
Introduced as SB56