25 Pa. Stat. § 2936

Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-92

Section 2936 - Examination of nomination petitions, certificates and papers; return of rejected nomination petitions, certificates and papers

When any nomination petition, nomination certificate or nomination paper is presented in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth or of any county board of elections for filing within the period limited by this act, it shall be the duty of the said officer or board to examine the same. No nomination petition, nomination paper or nomination certificate shall be permitted to be filed if--

(a) it contains material errors or defects apparent on the face thereof, or on the face of the appended or accompanying affidavits; or

(b) it contains material alterations made after signing without the consent of the signers; or

(c) it does not contain a sufficient number of signatures as required by law; Provided, however, That the Secretary of the Commonwealth or the county board of elections, although not hereby required so to do, may question the genuineness of any signature or signatures appearing thereon, and if he or it shall thereupon find that any such signature or signatures are not genuine, such signature or signatures shall be disregarded in determining whether the nomination petition, nomination paper or nomination certificate contains a sufficient number of signatures as required by law; or

(d) in the case of nomination petitions, if nomination petitions have been filed for printing the name of the same person for the same office, except the office of judge of a court of common pleas, the Philadelphia Municipal Court or the office of school director in districts where that office is elective or the office of justice of the peace upon the official ballot of more than one political party;

(e) in the case of nomination papers, if the candidate named therein has filed a nomination petition for any public office for the ensuing primary, or has been nominated for any such office by nomination papers previously filed; or

(f) if the nomination petitions or papers are not accompanied by the filing fee or certified check required for said office; or

(g) in the case of nomination papers, the appellation set forth therein is identical with or deceptively similar to the words used by any existing party or by any political body which has already filed nomination papers for the same office, or if the appellation set forth therein contains part of the name, or an abbreviation of the name or part of the name of an existing political party, or of a political body which has already filed nomination papers for the same office.

The invalidity of any sheet of a nomination petition or nomination paper shall not affect the validity of such petition or paper if a sufficient petition or paper remains after eliminating such invalid sheet. The action of said officer or board in refusing to receive and file any such nomination petition, certificate or paper, may be reviewed by the court upon an application to compel its reception as of the date when it was presented to the office of such officer or board: Provided, however, That said officer or board shall be entitled to a reasonable time in which to examine any petitions, certificates or papers, and to summon and interrogate the candidates named therein, or the persons presenting said petitions, certificates or papers, and his or their retention of same for the purpose of making such examination or interrogation shall not be construed as an acceptance or filing.

Upon completion of any examination, if any nomination petition, certificate or paper is found to be defective, it shall forthwith be rejected and returned to the candidate or one of the candidates named therein, together with a statement of the reasons for such rejection:

Provided further, That no nomination petition, nomination paper or nomination certificate shall be permitted to be filed, if the political party or political body referred to therein shall be composed of a group of electors whose purposes or aims, or one of whose purposes or aims, is the establishment, control, conduct, seizure or overthrow of the Government of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the United States of America by the use of force, violence, military measure or threats of one or more of the foregoing. The authority to reject such nomination petition, paper or certificate for this reason shall, when filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, be vested in a committee composed of the Governor, the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and when filed with any county board of elections shall be vested in such board. If in such case the committee or board, as the case may be, shall conclude that the acceptance of such nomination petition, paper or certificate should be refused, it shall within two days of the filing of such nomination petition, paper or certificate fix a place and a time five days in advance for hearing the matter, and notice thereof shall be given to all parties affected thereby. At the time and place so fixed the committee or board, as the case may be, shall hear testimony, but shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. The testimony presented shall be stenographically recorded and made a part of the record of the committee or board. Within two days after such hearing the committee or board, if satisfied upon competent evidence that the said nomination petition, paper or certificate is not entitled to be accepted and filed, it shall announce its decision and immediately notify the parties affected thereby. Failure to announce decision within two days after such hearing shall be conclusive that such nomination petition, paper or certificate has been accepted and filed. The decision of said committee or board in refusing to accept and file such nomination petition, paper or certificate may be reviewed by the court upon an application to compel its reception as of the date when presented to the Secretary of the Commonwealth or such board. The application shall be made within two days of the time when such decision is announced. If the application is properly made, any judge of said court may fix a time and place for hearing the matter in dispute, of which notice shall be served with a copy of said application upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth or the county board of elections, as the case may be. At the time so fixed, the court, or any judge thereof assigned for the purpose, shall hear the case de novo. If after such hearing the said court shall find that the decision of the committee or the board was erroneous, it shall issue its mandate to the committee or board to correct its decision and to accept and file the nomination paper, petition or certificate. From any decision of the court an appeal may be taken within two days after the entry thereof. It shall be the duty of the said court to fix the hearing and to announce its decision within such period of time as will permit the Secretary of the Commonwealth or the county board of elections to permit the names of the candidates affected by the court's decision to be printed on the ballot, if the court should so determine.

25 P.S. § 2936

Amended by P.L. TBD 2019 No. 77, § 3, eff. 10/31/2019.

1937, June 3, P.L. 1333, art. IX, § 976. Amended 1941, July 28, P.L. 526, § 2; 1947, June 28, P.L. 1038, § 1; 1947, July 5, P.L. 1358, § 2; 1972, July 7, P.L. 732, No. 171, § 2, imd. effective; 1974, June 27, P.L. 413, No. 146, § 2, imd. effective. Affected 1978, April 28, P.L. 202, No. 53, § 2(a) [1193], effective 6/27/1978. Amended 1986, Feb. 19, P.L. 29, No. 11, § 9, imd. effective.