DEPARTMENT OF STATE Revised Form of Nomination Petitions and Instructions [44 Pa.B. 862]
[Saturday, February 8, 2014]The Secretary of the Commonwealth (Secretary) has revised the form of the circulator's affidavit and the instructions that relate to nomination petitions. This newly-prescribed form and instructions are the outcome of recent litigation in Villa v. Aichele, No. 2:13-cv-06374 (E.D. Pa. 2013).
On November 1, 2013, the plaintiff in Villa commenced suit in Federal court, challenging enforcement of the residency requirement of section 909 of the Pennsylvania Election Code (Election Code) (25 P. S. § 2869), on grounds that the statute's requirement that a circulator of a nomination petition be a resident of the relevant political district is unconstitutional. The plaintiff argued that the residency requirement of section 909 of the Election Code is unconstitutional for the same reasons that section 951(d) of the Election Code (25 P. S. § 2911(d)), regarding the requirement that a circulator of a nomination paper supporting the nomination of the candidates of a minor political party or a political body be a registered elector in the relevant district, was ruled to be unconstitutional by a Federal court and its enforcement permanently enjoined. See Morrill v. Weaver, 224 F. Supp. 2d 882 (E.D. Pa. 2002). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in In re Stevenson, 615 Pa. 50, 40 A.3d 1212 (2012), ruled that Pennsylvania State courts must abide by the Morrill declaration and injunction order based on principles of judicial comity.
The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (OAG) represented the Secretary as a defendant in Villa and undertook to defend the constitutionality of the statute. However, in the course of that litigation, OAG determined that the circulator residency requirement imposed by section 909 of the Election Code could not reasonably be defended in light of the constitutional law as reflected in Morrill.
Based on advice received by the Attorney General in the course of this litigation, the Secretary agreed to cease enforcing that part of section 909 of the Election Code that requires the circulator of a nomination petition to be a resident of the relevant political district. The Attorney General advised the Secretary that the constitutional conclusions expressed in Morrill relating to the residency requirement of section 951(d) of the Election Code (and which the Supreme Court in Stevenson said State courts must follow) logically apply to the residency requirement imposed by section 909 of the Election Code. Therefore, to moot the litigation and avoid associated costs, the Secretary agreed to suspend enforcement of the residency requirement of section 909 of the Election Code as recommended by the Attorney General.
A copy of the letter from the OAG is available on the Department of State's publicly accessible web site at www.dos.state.pa.us. The revised form of the circulator's affidavit that has been newly-prescribed and the revised instructions relating to the nomination petitions also are available on the web site.
Note: It is important that all candidates understand that, notwithstanding the decision of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to alter the form of the circulator's affidavit and instructions indicating that a circulator of a nomination petition need not reside in the district specified in the nomination petition, it remains possible that individual qualified electors may file objections to nomination petitions in court on the basis that a circulator does not reside in the district as required by section 909 of the Election Code. In the event that objections to a nomination petition were filed by a qualified elector, the court would determine on its own authority whether to enforce the residency requirement imposed by section 909.
Individuals with questions regarding the newly-prescribed form and instructions relating to nomination petitions should contact Jessica Mathis, Chief of the Division of Elections Services in the Department's Bureau of Commissions, Election and Legislation, jesmathis@pa.gov, (717) 787-5280.
CAROL AICHELE,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 14-299. Filed for public inspection February 7, 2014, 9:00 a.m.]
