Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Bills to Move Presidential Primary, Allow Out-of-County Poll Watchers

Pennsylvania’s House State Government Committee on Wednesday passed a Senate bill to move the state’s presidential primary date and another measure to allow out-of-county poll watchers. 

The first of the two bills was sponsored by State Senator John Gordner (R-Bloomsburg) and passed his chamber unanimously last December. And yet only two of the House panel’s 10 Democrats, State Senators Kristine Howard (D-Malvern) and Ben Sanchez (D-Abington), backed the legislation during Wednesday’s vote. 

Gordner and many of his colleagues lament that both the Republican and Democratic nomination contests typically get determined before Pennsylvania voters have any say. Currently, the Keystone State’s presidential primaries occur on the fourth Tuesday in April. After 2008, the Republican and Democratic National Committees assented to a primary schedule in which Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina would hold their respective primaries and caucuses in February; all others would take place between March and early June.

Starting in 2024, Gordner’s bill would instead place Pennsylvania’s presidential nomination vote on the third Tuesday of March – the same day as the Arizona, Florida, and Illinois primaries – keeping the date within the national party rules. His measure would have no effect on the scheduling of primaries in other years. 

The legislation to allow Pennsylvania voters to get certified as poll watchers in counties other than their own has been more controversial; it received only one Democratic vote when it passed the State Senate two weeks ago and got no Democratic support in Wednesday’s House committee vote. … (Excerpt from The Pennsylvania Daily Star)