Ballot Access

I saw this article below from Ballot Access News.  Does anyone have information on who the co-sponsors are? 

Fourteen Pennsylvania Legislators Introduce a Bill to Further Restrict Voting Rights

February 15th, 2007

On January 30, fourteen Pennsylvania Representatives introduced HB 48, which says that write-in votes are void if they are cast for a candidate who was removed from the ballot because his or her petition was insufficient. The sponsors include 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans. The Democrats include Babette Josephs, chair of the committee that will hear the bill (the Committee on State Government).

The bill seems to contradict a 1905 decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Oughton v Black, 61 A 346. On page 348, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that the state constitutional provision that elections be “equal” would be violated if voters were not permitted to write-in anyone they please. The Court said, if write-ins were restricted, “the election (as to the voter who cast a write-in vote) would not be equal, for he would not be able to express his own individual will in his own way.”

One Response to “Ballot Access”

  1. Publius Says:

    I got 7 of each, not 6 and 8.

    Ds: Curtis Thomas, Tom Blackwell, Ed Staback, Lawrence Curry, Babette Josephs, Rosita Youngblood, and Pete Daley

    Rs: Dan Moul, John Maher, Tom Caltagirone, Brad Roae, Curt Schroder, Scott Boyd, and RoseMarie Swanger

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