Election category, Page 93
State legislative redistricting causes changes in Alle-Kiski Valley communities
With the state Supreme Court affirming the commonwealth’s new legislative district maps this week, state House and Senate representation changed in many communities in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Pennsylvania’s highest court Wednesday rejected final legal challenges to affirm the state’s new legislative district maps. A list of local communities and how...
Mail-in ballots on way for elections to replace House seats vacated by Gainey, Wheatley
Allegheny County’s Elections Division has begun sending mail-in and absentee ballot packets to voters who will be participating in the special elections to fill state House seats vacated by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and his chief of staff, Jake Wheatley. The special elections to fill the seats in the 19th...
Ex-hedge fund CEO aims to be hometown boy in Senate race in Pennsylvania
LEBANON — As CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, David McCormick wore suits, lived on Connecticut’s ritzy Gold Coast, talked up bipartisanship and described China as America’s most important “bilateral relationship.” Now, as a Republican running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, McCormick wears jeans and casual dress shirts. He...
Colorado elections clerk indicted in voting system breach
DENVER — A grand jury in Colorado has indicted a county election clerk who sowed doubt about the 2020 presidential election, alleging she was part of a “deceptive scheme” to breach voting system technology that is used across the country. Tina Peters, a Republican elected in 2018 to oversee elections...
Texas primary sets up Abbott-O’Rourke race as midterms begin
AUSTIN — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will face Democrat Beto O’Rourke after voters in Texas opened what could be a lengthy, bruising primary season poised to reshape political power from state capitals to Washington. Both easily won their party’s nomination for governor on Tuesday. Abbott is now in a commanding...
Murrysville, North Huntingdon Republicans blast new congressional map; Democrats invigorated by changes
Republicans in Westmoreland County towns included in a redrawn congressional district based in Pittsburgh said they fear their communities will be excluded from key decision-making and have a reduced voice in national politics. Meanwhile, local Democrats said the move to align the county’s largest municipalities with traditional Democratic enclaves will...
Search for new Westmoreland elections director stalls
The Westmoreland County commissioners have indefinitely halted a search for a new election bureau director. The department has been without a top executive since the commissioners fired the former director last summer after she served 10 months on the job. Since June, it has been operated with two interim directors...
Mail-in ballot applications sent to voters as questions remain ahead of May primary
About 350,000 applications for mail-in ballots were sent to voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties over the past two weeks as local election officials prepare for a May primary election in the midst of uncertainty over the legality of the state’s voting laws and jurisdictions of congressional and state legislative...
Millions follow rich candidates in Pennsylvania Senate race
HARRISBURG — Cash is pouring in to Pennsylvania’s hotly contested race for U.S. Senate, as wealthy and well-connected candidates moved in from out of state, followed by millions of dollars going into TV ads and super PACs. Filings posted online by the Federal Election Commission before Monday night’s deadline showed...
Westmoreland officials favor congressional map that unifies county
Westmoreland County could be consolidated into one congressional district or see some of its western and northern communities split off into another that includes parts of Pittsburgh and the city’s eastern suburbs under proposals that redraw the map determining Pennsylvania’s representation in Washington, D.C. The state will lose one seat...
‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken will run for N.C. seat in Congress
Clay Aiken, the “American Idol” star and a Raleigh native, wants to represent North Carolina in Congress. Aiken, a Democrat who previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, announced Monday that he’s planning to run this year in the Durham-centric House district that’s now open. The 6th...
Stalemates, court battles could squeeze Pennsylvania primary election
HARRISBURG — More extreme time pressures could push the bounds of how Pennsylvania’s elections are run in 2022, with wide-open races for a U.S. Senate seat and the governor’s office driving voter interest and partisan stalemates in the statehouse sowing uncertainty. It is barely a month before candidates can legally...
Pennsylvania Senate committee to hold hearings on its audit of the 2020, 2021 elections
A state Senate committee plans to forge ahead with hearings in early spring on any information discovered in a controversial audit seeking to uncover irregularities in Pennsylvania’s 2020 elections and last year’s primary, a Republican spokeswoman said Thursday. The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee would conduct the hearings on any findings...
Pennsylvania elections chief warns lawmakers about deadlines
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top statewide elections official warned legislative leaders that delays in drawing new General Assembly district lines may require them to push back next year’s spring primary election. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid told the floor leaders Tuesday for both parties in the two chambers on the...
Pennsylvania redistricting: New proposed maps for state House, Senate districts released
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — A panel of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers released new proposed...
Court battle over Pa. GOP’s subpoena of sensitive voter data centers on legislative power vs. privacy
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — An appellate court leveled sharp questions Wednesday in the opening round of a closely watched court case over whether...
GOP field in Pennsylvania’s Senate race heads for reshuffle
HARRISBURG — The Republican field of candidates aiming to capture Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat in next year’s election is churning anew, with the candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump out and intriguing new candidates possibly in. Out is Sean Parnell — a favorite of Donald Trump Jr. —...
Process of pending Pennsylvania election audit remains shrouded in secrecy
An Iowa-based firm that has never conducted an election review will delve into a forensic audit of Pennsylvania’s contentious 2020 general election results and this year’s May primary. How it intends to determine election integrity remains shrouded in secrecy. Steve Lahr, president of Envoy Sage LLC, on Tuesday declined to...
Senate GOP hires firm to review Pennsylvania’s 2020 election
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate said Friday they will pay up to $270,000 over the next six months to have an Iowa consulting firm examine the 2020 election with an eye toward developing changes to state election law. The “forensic investigation” is being launched in response to pressure...
Police search 4 Colorado locations in election security probe
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — An FBI-led law enforcement task force searched four western Colorado locations, including the home of an elections clerk, amid an investigation into allegations that the clerk was involved in a security breach of elections equipment earlier this year, a district attorney said. The FBI, the Colorado...
Ties in 39 races to be broken Friday in Westmoreland County
Westmoreland County election officials said 39 races on the Nov. 2 ballot ended in ties that will be broken Friday through a casting of lots, including one open seat for Jeannette city controller where 30 candidates each received one write-in vote. The county’s elections board on Wednesday issued a precertification...
Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy won’t seek reelection
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the longest-serving member of the Senate, said Monday he will not seek reelection in 2022 to the seat he has held for eight terms. Leahy, 81, said he and his wife, Marcelle, have concluded that “it is time to pass the...
Democrat Beto O’Rourke running for Texas governor in 2022
AUSTIN, Texas — Democrat Beto O’Rourke is running for governor of Texas, pursuing a blue breakthrough in America’s biggest red state after his star-making U.S. Senate campaign in 2018 put him closer than anyone else in decades. O’Rourke’s announcement Monday kicks off a third run for office in as many...
State recount forces Westmoreland commissioners to relocate public meetings
Westmoreland commissioners are likely to relocate two scheduled public meetings next week to accommodate a state-ordered recount in the race to fill one of two seats on the state’s Commonwealth Court. Democrat Lori Dumas held a small lead over Republican Drew Crompton, by just 16,804 votes as of earlier this...
Voter turnout at 36% in Westmoreland County; elections board reviews problem ballots
More than 88,000 registered voters in Westmoreland County cast ballots in last week’s general election as turnout for the municipal races neared 36%, officials said. That figure exceeded the predicted turnout of 30% and represented 22,000 more ballots than were cast during a similar election cycle in 2017. This fall’s...
