Pennsylvania Facing Delay in Primary Elections as Lawmakers Haggle Over Redistricting Map

Pennsylvania's 2022 primary election may face a delay if Governor Tom Wolf and state lawmakers are unable to agree on a new congressional district map soon. Meanwhile, a group of 16 voters asked the state Supreme Court to get involved and be ready to pick a new map so that the districts are set by key deadlines.

All states must draft new legislative district maps to reflect any demographic changes documented in the results of the once-a-decade U.S. Census. But the process is often slowed by partisan conflicts because how a district border is drawn can potentially give one party a better chance of emerging victorious in an election.

Pennsylvania's primary election is scheduled to take place on May 17, but the state's top election official, Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid, is asking for a final map well in advance. The group of voters on Monday drew an order from a lower state court that gave the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled state legislature until January 30 to finalize districts.

If they fail to meet the deadline, that court said it will pick a new map from the submissions. The voter group, fearing an election delay and noting that Degraffenreid said that her agency needs a final map a full week before the lower court's deadline, asked Pennsylvania's Supreme Court for an earlier date Tuesday.

In a letter Tuesday, Degraffenreid said the current schedule for the Legislative Reapportionment Commission to redraw a map of legislative districts will not work with the primary deadlines.

Her agency needs the new map of districts by January 24, three weeks before petitions can be circulated so that counties can update voter registration files to assign voters to the redrawn districts, she wrote.

"In short, it will not be possible to comply with the constitutionally mandated timeline for the finalization of the reapportionment plan, and the current statutorily established deadlines for the beginning of (the) petition circulation period and other subsequent deadlines leading up to the primary," Degraffenreid wrote.

The Legislative Reapportionment Commission is composed of the two parties' floor leaders in the House and Senate and a fifth member, the chair, selected by the state Supreme Court.

Senate Republicans have warned for nearly a year that delays in census data might require the May 17 primary date to be delayed.

Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward said in a text message Wednesday that she would support having a later primary "only as a last resort."

Degraffenreid's letter comes less than a week after the commission produced preliminary maps for the General Assembly.

People have until January 18 to file objections to the proposed maps. Objections go to the state Supreme Court, but that could further delay the process, Degraffenreid warned.

As the pandemic was spreading throughout the country in March 2020, Pennsylvania lawmakers voted to delay that year's presidential primary by five weeks, from April 28 to June 2.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.