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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | November 13, 2013 12:32 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Matt Gabler |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Amending the Pennsylvania Election Code as it Relates to the Number of Signers Required for Nominating Petitions of Candidates at Primaries |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to correct an inconsistency that currently exists in the Pennsylvania Election Code as it relates to nominating petitions for the office of School Director. Section 912.1 of the Pennsylvania Election Code provides a list of various offices and the number of signatures required on nominating petitions in order to place their name on the primary election ballot for a given political party. Current law outlines the number of signatures required for nomination to offices ranging from President of the United States to Inspector of Elections. However, not all offices are listed in current law. The requirements for some offices are enumerated simply by the class of county, city or township in which they are located. The office of School Director is not listed, creating an inconsistency in situations in which a single school district spans multiple municipalities. In my home school district, school directors are elected by region. One region is coterminous with the boundaries of a Third Class City, while the other two regions span various townships and boroughs. To run for school director in the “city” region, candidates must collect 100 signatures, pursuant to paragraph (23) of the current law. However, candidates in the other two regions must only collect 10 signatures, pursuant to paragraph (35) of current law. It certainly seems that there is no logical reason that candidates for the same office should be subject to such different requirements. Therefore, my legislation will clarify that all candidates for the office of School Director will be required to submit 25 signatures for nomination. This will create clarity, simplicity and fairness in our law, and correct the inconsistency in our current law. |
Introduced as HB1923