On June 26, a Republican candidate for Mayor of Lyons Borough, in Berks County, filed a federal challenge to the Pennsylvania law that says no write-in candidate in a partisan primary can be nominated if the candidate receives fewer votes than the number of signatures that would have been required to get on the primary ballot for that office. Pugh v Berks County Board of Elections, e.d., 5:25cv-3267. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John M. Gallagher, a Trump appointee.
At the May 2025 primary, no one filed to be on either the Republican nor the Democratic primary ballot for Mayor of Lyons Borough, a very small jurisdiction. Only 41 Republicans voted in the primary in Lyons Boroough. Six of them wrote in Brandon Pugh, the plaintiff. But because he would have needed ten signatures to get on the primary ballot, the law blocked him from being on the November 2025 ballot, even though he got more votes than anyone else running for the Republican nomination.
The brief points out that when a candidate’s name is printed on a primary ballot, whoever gets the most votes wins the nomination, regardless of how few votes are received. If Pugh doesn’t win his lawsuit, no name will be on the November ballot for Mayor of Lyons Boroough. The case is pending. Here is the plaintiff’s brief.
The law was upheld in 1967 in Pennsylvania state court. UPDATE: the Pennsylvania State Elections Department filed this amicus curiae brief, which points out that many states require a minimum number of votes in primaries. The brief is a useful reference for those interested in those laws.
