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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | July 1, 2016 09:13 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Duane D. Milne |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Government Reform: Remove Place of Residence on Primary Ballots |
| In the near future, I will introduce legislation to remove the provision in the Pennsylvania Election Code that requires candidates’ county or municipality of residence be noted on the ballot alongside their names in primary elections. The Election Code currently stipulates that candidates standing for an election before the voters of more than one county must have their county of residence noted on the primary ballot. For those candidates to be selected by voters whom reside entirely within one given county, or any congressional, senatorial, or representative district drawn entirely within one given county, the municipality of residence of the candidate is indicated on the primary election ballot. I am urging this clean up of the ballot for a series of reasons. First, as a purely practical matter, no compelling reason exists for this information to be provided on the ballot. Neither House staff nor the Department of State reports any specific reason that this information is included on the ballot. The matter appears a case of a practice that started at some point and subsequently perpetuates “simply” because the Code stipulates such. Secondly, place of residence is the only socio-demographic piece of data noted with candidates’ names on the primary ballot. Factors such as gender, age, race, etc. are not noted (i.e., the kind of variables commonly noted and used in a variety of societal contexts, and that can impact people’s opinion at times). No particular reason appears evident to single out “geography” as something that should be affixed on the ballot (and no other candidate descriptors) -- nor should there be any in my view, per reason three below. Third, as a government reform best practice, primary ballots should be devoid of anything except the names of the candidates. Doing so helps focus voters that much more on choosing between candidates per se, and their respective merits, and not potentially being unduly influenced by a last-second geographic (or other) “political cue” witnessed on what is an official government document. Fourth, philosophically, one even could argue that the geographic variable on the ballot is a form of political advertising to an extent, which of course remains inconsistent with best practice standards of the conduct of elections in a democracy. To the contrary, the primary ballot should be “neutral” in all respects, and not contain any information sans the candidates’ names. I would welcome your support of this legislation to reform government practice! -D |