Election category, Page 96
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle won’t seek another term in officeVideo
U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle said Monday he will serve out the rest of his 14th term in office but not seek reelection next year. “I believe the time has come to pass the torch to the next generation,” said Doyle, 68, a Democrat from Forest Hills. Doyle is the most...
Race for Westmoreland prothonotary pits former row officer against fiscal clerk
Westmoreland County will have a new prothonotary in 2022. But the officeholder elected this fall to replace retiring Democrat Christina O’Brien will not be an unfamiliar face. Democrat Tom Murphy, 57, of New Kensington served 16 years as the county’s Recorder of Deeds until he was ousted for the second...
Allegheny County scraps remote drop boxes for mail-in voters; Councilwoman pushes to bring them back
Voters still are encouraged to cast ballots by mail in the upcoming election, but there won’t be drop boxes available in satellite locations across Allegheny County like there were during last year’s presidential race. And Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says he has no plans to bring the remote boxes...
Westmoreland County approves drop boxes for mail-in ballots
A drop box for mail-in ballots will be available at the Westmoreland County Courthouse starting Oct. 18 and at five regional locations during the two weekends before the Nov. 2 general election. Westmoreland elections officials said more than 19,000 ballots were mailed to voters on Wednesday, according to election bureau...
Judge dismisses Fulton County ballot review case in Georgia
ATLANTA — A judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that alleged fraud in Georgia’s most populous county during the 2020 election. The suit sought a review of some 147,000 absentee ballots in search of illegitimate votes, but no evidence emerged to justify such a broad search, the judge said. The...
Attorney General Josh Shapiro launches bid for Pa. governor
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro officially launched his bid for governor on Wednesday — mostly a formality after months of speculation that he’d seek the state’s highest office. Shapiro, a Democrat from Montgomery County, kicked off his campaign by releasing a two-minute video Wednesday morning that included endorsements from Pittsburgh...
Westmoreland coroner challenged by former Scottdale mayor
Ken Bacha wants to break his father’s record. Leo Bacha served as Westmoreland County coroner for 23 years and four months before he retired in 2002, the longest tenure anyone has had in the office. A victory for Democrat Ken Bacha in November would mean the opportunity to take over...
Pa. lawmakers spend millions of tax dollars on private lawyers but often don’t reveal why
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature spent nearly $10 million during the last two years on private lawyers but routinely shielded the...
GOP wants personal voter data to root out fraud, but Pa. already uses a more secure system
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania has spent nearly half a million dollars over the past six years to find and remove outdated registrations...
Mich. Gov. Whitmer vetoes election bills, says they perpetuate lies
LANSING, Mich. — Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed several Republican-sponsored election bills, saying they would have perpetuated falsehoods to discredit the 2020 presidential election and made it tougher for people living in large senior facilities and apartment complexes to vote. Two measures would have codified existing practices by limiting access...
Westmoreland Democrats prepare for last stand as Republicans seek full government takeover
It’s a last stand of sorts for Democrats in Westmoreland County. The once-dominant political party in November will try to hold on to its last vestiges of power as Republicans seek to claim every elected office at the courthouse. Four row office seats are up for grabs Nov. 2, including...
Deadline passes in GOP’s Pennsylvania election ‘investigation’ subpoena
HARRISBURG — The deadline passed Friday for Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to comply with a subpoena from a Republican-controlled state Senate committee pursuing what the GOP calls a “forensic investigation” of last year’s presidential election, as a state court sorted through three legal challenges. Wolf’s administration and Senate Republicans remained...
Westmoreland polling place changes for Nov. 2 election
Westmoreland County officials announced Wednesday that polling places in three precincts will be moved for the upcoming Nov. 2 election. North Huntingdon’s 1-1 precinct will be moved from the Westmoreland City Volunteer Fire Department to the Westmoreland City Primitive Methodist Church at 1246 5th St. Officials said the church will...
Westmoreland election bureau director post to remain vacant
Westmoreland County commissioners said Wednesday they will not hire a new election bureau director until after voters cast ballots in November. Officials said interviews are ongoing to fill the job that has been vacant since June, when commissioners fired the elections director after she served just 10 controversial months on...
To avoid Wolf’s veto, Pa. GOP proposes giving voters final say on stricter ID rules, other election changes
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Republicans in the state House are advancing a proposal that would give Pennsylvania voters the opportunity to significantly change...
Pennsylvania Democrats sue over GOP election ‘investigation’
HARRISBURG — Democrats in Pennsylvania’s state Senate sued Friday evening in a state court to block a Republican-approved subpoena seeking voter information and to put a stop to what Republicans call a “forensic investigation” of last year’s presidential election. Democrats had said they would sue within days after the Republican-controlled...
Pa. Senate GOP moves to collect private voter information in controversial review of 2020 election
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The state Senate committee undertaking a controversial review of last year’s presidential election results on Wednesday authorized subpoenas for...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom beats back GOP-led recall
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office early, a contest the Democrat framed as part of a national battle for his party’s values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and continued threats from “Trumpism.” Newsom bolted...
Arizona Supreme Court allows release of Senate audit records
PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an effort by the state Senate to keep secret records of its ongoing review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County that are in the possession of the contractors conducting the recount. The high court without comment rejected the appeal filed...
Ex-federal prosecutor under Trump joins GOP Pa. governor primary
HARRISBURG — Bill McSwain, top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under former President Donald Trump, will run for governor, he announced Monday, joining a crowded Republican field that may still yet get bigger. McSwain’s announcement was not a surprise. He had written to Trump in July, seeking the former president’s endorsement...
Republicans, elections experts say Wisconsin probe is flawed
MADISON, Wis. — Former Republican officeholders and elections experts said Wednesday that the GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin lacks credibility, transparency and raises security risks and legal concerns. Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and Kentucky’s former secretary of state, Trey Grayson, said the ongoing...
Wisconsin election probe includes $325,000 for data analysis
MADISON, Wis. — Nearly half of the money being spent on a Republican-ordered investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential election is earmarked for data analysis, a contract released Wednesday spelling out how the $676,000 in taxpayer money will be spent shows. The Associated Press obtained the contract entered into by Assembly...
Fired Westmoreland election bureau director claims commissioners set her up to fail
Former Westmoreland County Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said she worked sometimes 16 hours a day and struggled through health issues as she was belittled and set up for failure by her bosses before being ultimately fired without cause. Sebastiani, 63, appeared with her lawyers at virtual news conference Tuesday...
Westmoreland’s former elections director claims political coercion and scapegoating in federal lawsuit
JoAnn Sebastiani, former director of the Westmoreland County Election Bureau, claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Monday against all three county commissioners that she was “scapegoated,” belittled and discriminated against before she was fired without adequate cause. Sebastiani, 63, had been on the job for 10 months when she was...
Top Pa. GOP senator orders change in election integrity plan
HARRISBURG — The top Republican in Pennsylvania’s state Senate said Friday that he is putting a different senator in charge of an “election integrity” undertaking and removing a senator who had aimed to carry out an Arizona-style “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman...
