‘GOOFY KICKING DONALD DUCK’ JUST GOT EVEN GOOFIER
Will be held Nov. 6, tied to general election
Winner will only hold seat for two months
Many voters will cast ballots in 5th, 7th races
As Gov. Tom Wolf announced a special election for the vacant 7th U.S. Congressional District, the move received support from Democrats as abiding by the law and criticism from Republicans as a waste of time and money.
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Ford, resigned from his office Friday after being thrust into a controversy surrounding a $39,000 payment he made with taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment claim from a former staff member.
By state law, the governor had 10 days to schedule a special election to be held at least 60 days after the announcement. On Wednesday, Wolf set that to coincide with the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
“Given the calendar and timing of these announcements, it makes the most fiscal and practical sense for our county elections office to schedule these special elections on the same day as the November election,” the governor said.
This district faces a changing dynamic as it will no longer exist after Dec. 31. All of the state’s congressional districts have been drawn by the state Supreme Court after a gerrymandering suit was filed by Democratic voters. The 7th District has been split into several different districts but all of Delaware County will be in the newly constituted 5th Congressional District, in which one Republican and 10 Democrats are campaigning.
So, when most county voters go to the polls in November, they’ll be voting for both the 5th and 7th congressional districts, a move some say can be perplexing to the public.
“Gov. Wolf’s actions will require five counties (Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, Berks and Lancaster) to conduct a special November election for a congressional district that no longer exists so that a congressman can serve three weeks in office before the congressional Christmas recess,” said county GOP leader Andrew Reilly. “This will be extremely confusing and amounts to a huge waste of time and money.”
Wanda Murren, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State, said the state reimburses counties in special elections for state House or Senate offices, but not for Congress.
However, in having the election coincide with the general, she said costs are reduced.
“The costs are really negligible,” she said. “(The counties) don’t have to pay poll workers.”
Reilly said, however, that separate voting booths may be needed and that could cause a problem if Delaware County doesn’t have enough.
Murren said the special election candidates could be added to the same ballot as the general election roster, eliminating the need for a separate booth.
“It would just be programmed in just as any other race would be,” she said.
Candidates for the position will be culled from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian and Green parties. In the case of the two major parties, the candidates will be nominated.
Delaware County Democratic Chairman David Landau explained that their candidate must chosen by the state Democratic Party. He said the county committees, either separately or together, will make a recommendation to the state party, but ultimately, the decision is theirs.
He said a special election occurring simultaneously with a general election is not unique. He referred to U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans’ election in 2016 following the resignation of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah in Philadelphia.
Landau explained that that election gave Evans seniority in that freshman class of representatives.
He also supported the governor in scheduling the special election in the 7th District.
“I think he made the right decision,” Landau said. “We can have a special election on the same day as the general. I support the governor’s decision. I didn’t think ‘no special election’ was an option. I thought he had to call one.”
In the meantime, Landau said it will be up to the parties to present their candidates to the public in the races for the two districts.
“That’s our obligation – to educate the voters,” he said. “I don’t think it will be confusing. It’s our job to educate them.”
Reilly, however, said the governor could have made a different choice for Pennsylvania voters.
“Without legal authority to do so, he had no trouble working with the Democrats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to expeditiously draw new congressional districts, so he could have easily convinced them to waive any requirement to hold a meaningless special election that will only confuse voters and costs taxpayers money,” he said.