Laurie MacDonald’s District 12 candidacy challenged in court
Court filing alleges defective signatures on her nomination petitions and that those collecting the signatures were not registered voters at the addresses they provided.
Laurie MacDonald’s candidacy in the District 12 Congressional primary faces a legal challenge.
An objection petition was filed in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania seeking to remove MacDonald from the April 23 primary, alleging “defects, other irregularities, and outright pattern of impropriety” in her nomination petitions.
The objection petition was filed by four Democratic voters who live in District 12.
MacDonald announced her candidacy in January. If she remains in the primary, she will face Democrats Rep. Summer Lee and Bhavini Patel.
The objection petition alleges that “there are numerous defective signatures, illegible signatures, signatures of unregistered voters, duplicate signatures, signatures of voters not registered in the Democratic Party, and signatures of individuals not registered at the address listed.”
If those allegedly defective signatures are rejected by the court, MacDonald will not have 1,000 valid signatures which are required to qualify for the primary, the objection petition asserts.
In addition to the challenges regarding the individual signatures, the objection petition alleges that none of the three people identified as circulating the petitions for MacDonald were registered as a voter at the addresses they provided.
MacDonald told the Chronicle that she has enough valid signatures to secure a place on the ballot.
“We are very confident that we have at least 1,000 good signatures, probably more,” she said.
“The challenges are not even correct,” she added. “So, you know, it’s just busy work. But we will get it done and we will be on the ballot.”
MacDonald’s campaign later sent the Chronicle the following statement: “Challenging petitions is a sign of weakness on the part of my opponent — let the voters decide. The others in this race need to address the issues facing our district. Not spend time and money on disenfranchising district voters. I look forward to talking to voters about how to unify our nation and get results for our community.”
A hearing on the objection petition is scheduled for Monday, March 4, at the City-County Building. PJC
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