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Letter to Secretary of State Pedro Cortes Regarding Ralph Nader's Ballot
Position
October 13, 2004
The Honorable Pedro A. Cort́es
Secretary of State
302 North Office Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Dear Secretary Cort́es:
As the Ralph Nader decision
from the Commonwealth Court is soon approaching, it is our strong belief that
your office should not purport to require those counties who have mailed
absentee ballots-including military and overseas ballots-to resend a new ballot,
if in fact, the Commonwealth Court holds that Mr. Nader fell short of the
required signatures. Another ballot would cause great confusion to
individual voters who, depending on location of the elector, may be unable to
return the second ballot by October 29th. Your office must not issue any
guidance which would have the likely risk of disenfranchising many Commonwealth
voters.
The Nader dispute is not likely
to end with the Commonwealth Court since both sides have pledged an appeal to
the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court reverses the Commonwealth
Court (assuming it rules that Mr. Nader should not be listed as a candidate)
then a third ballot would have to be sent causing even more confusion for most
absentee voters. An absentee ballot issued by the county that includes Mr. Nader
as a candidate, should be considered a valid ballot and every vote cast on the
ballot should be counted.
Your memo, dated October 7,
2004, encouraged counties to delay and wait for the Commonwealth Court to issue
its decision prior to sending out absentee ballots. As numerous county election
officials have noted, this guidance was not sound. Since your memo, five
additional days have now lapsed and confusion has confronted the counties, who,
as you know, are the ones charged with these decisions, not your office. If
consistency was your motivation for issuing the memo, such has already been lost
since the military/overseas ballots varied greatly on the issue of listing Mr.
Nader as a candidate.
Our sole issue is the deep
concern that voters have the opportunity to cast a vote and have that vote be
counted, irrespective of whether Mr. Nader is on or off the ballot. It is our
firm view that the counties who have elected to send out absentee ballots, or
who are currently in the process of mailing them, should not be required to send
yet another ballot to each approved absentee voter.
Thank you for your prompt
consideration of this matter.
Very truly yours,
DAVID J.
BRIGHTBILL
SENATE MAJORITY
LEADER
SAMUEL SMITH
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER
cc: Honorable
Edward G. Rendell
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