Republican Candidate Files Federal Challenge to Pennsylvania’s Restriction on Write-ins in Primary

Posted on by August 15, 2025
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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.

Emerson College Poll for California Gubernatorial Election

Posted on by August 9, 2025
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On August 8, Emerson College Polls released a poll for Governor of California in the 2026 election. Two of the three leading candidates are Republicans. One is former Fox News host Steve Hilton; the other is Riverside County sheriff Chad Bianco. All of the other nine candidates included in the poll are Democrats. No one has more than 12%, because most voters are not familiar with the field. The primary is not until June 2, 2026.

The fact that there are two Republicans with somewhat significant support (relatively speaking) suggests the possibility that the two leading Republicans might conceivably place first and second, which would make them the only two choices in November. There is no write-in space on November ballots for California congressional and partisan state offices.

Canadian Voters in August 18 Special Parliamentary Election Will be Given Blank Ballots, and Must Write-in Their Choice

Posted on by August 9, 2025
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Canada holds a special parliamentary election on August 18 in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding in Alberta. Election officials have decided to issue blank ballots to all voters, and the voter must cast a write-in vote. Each voter will be furnished with an alphabetized list of the candidates. The write-in ballot decision was made because there are 214 candidates. The reason there are so many candidates is that a group that supports proportional representation organized the mass filing as a protest against the winner-take-all system.

See this story.

Liberal Party is Only Minor Party to Appear on Pennsylvania Statewide Office Ballot in 2025

Posted on by August 9, 2025
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Pennsylvania holds two statewide elections for judicial office in November 2025. The only minor party or independent candidate on the ballot is the Liberal Party’s nominee for Superior Court, Daniel Wassmer. He needed 5,000 signatures. The challenge period has passed and no one challenged his petition.

Pennsylvania also has some statewide retention elections for other judicial posts, but they aren’t candidate-versus-candidate elections.

If Wassmer gets a vote total of 2% of the winning candidate’s vote, the Liberal Party will meet the state’s pinched definition of a qualified party. A group that meets that definition gets certain advantages, but not automatic ballot access generally. Instead it gets automatic ballot access in special elections, and is listed as a choice on the voter registration form. Currently the only third party with that status in Pennsylvania is the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party will keep that status until November 2026 even though it isn’t running in any 2025 statewide judicial elections.