Pennsylvania Moves to Shift Primary Date Up

A Pennsylvania state Senate committee unanimously voted Wednesday to move its presidential primary election up in 2024.

The State Government Committee approved the bill, proposed by Vice Chair Republican Sen. David Argall, which would change Pennsylvania’s presidential primary from late April to March 19, according to the state legislature’s website. The proposed new primary date for the third Tuesday in March comes just two weeks after Super Tuesday, when over a dozen states hold their nominating contests.

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Pennsylvania Lawmaker Offers Legislation to Count Provisional Ballots in Cases of Defective Mail-In Votes

Pennsylvania state Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is drafting a bill to ensure voters have their in-person votes counted in cases when their defective mail-in ballots were tossed. 

Boscola sponsored Act 77, the 2019 law that legalized no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania, and her emerging bill seeks to clarify a part of that statute. A provision in that law led the Delaware County Board of Elections to vote unanimously on May 23 to throw out six of its eligible voters’ ballots cast in the May 16 primary. Three of those voters are now suing the board in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas to have their votes tallied and to guarantee those in similar situations have their ballots counted in the future. 

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Pennsylvania Congressional Candidate Bognet Sues Luzerne County over Election Problems

Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Jim Bognet sued the Luzerne County Board of Elections in the county’s Court of Common Pleas this week over problems with administration of the 2022 election. 

This year, Bognet challenged incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright to represent the Eighth Congressional District which includes Scranton, Wilks-Barre, Hazleton, Mount Pocono and neighboring communities extending northeastward to the New York and New Jersey borders. While many observers considered Cartwright’s reelection effort vulnerable, he ultimately received 51.3 percent of the 283,580 votes cast for Congress in the district while Bognet got 48.7 percent.

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