Supreme Court confirms new map

After a turbulent few weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed Monday the Pennsylvania high court’s decision to redraw congressional district lines.

Questions were raised about the congressional map last month—primarily from the League of Women’s Voters and from voters across the state—claiming gerrymandering that unfairly favored Republicans. The case was debated at length, travelling all the way to the high court, which ruled that the current map is unconstitutional. A replacement map was ordered to be submitted to Gov. Tom Wolf-D by Feb. 9—an expedited timeline to negate the system that has been in place since 2011.

According to reports from the Observer-Reporter and Associated Press, changes are expected to cause significant disarray, come May primary elections.

But the new map will not affect the approaching special election for the 18th Congressional District, said Tina Kiger, director of Greene County Elections & Voter Registration.

Still, GOP leaders and voters appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to put the Pennsylvania high court’s order on hold—slowing down the map revisions to spare confusion during the primaries. Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency appeals from Pennsylvania, denied that request.

With the high court’s decision from two weeks ago upheld, the Legislature has until Friday to approve a new map and submit it to Wolf for approval.

The Supreme Court said it expects new districts to be in place by Feb. 19.

To make the timeline less harsh, the Department of State revised deadlines for congressional candidates, Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Whereas candidates normally would have had to file paperwork by March 6, they now have until March 20. However, no changes to the congressional primary date has been reported: it will still take place May 15, as planned.

Kiger said that despite the national attention being drawn to the issue—as the effects of re-districting may even impact control in the U.S. House—she has seen little impact on the county level, yet.

“Basically, with the timeline, they just changed the dates for the petition forms for the candidates,” said Kiger. “They were moved a little closer to the primary, which could present challenges; it could delay our ballots a little bit. At this point, it depends on tho the decision if we’re going to have one primary or two primaries or the decision to change [the primary] to a later date.”

Kiger said that those decisions are made by the State Department. She said that while no changes to the primary date has been reported or discussed, it is still a possibility.

But as far as Greene County goes, Kiger said she hasn’t seen any direct impacts as of yet.

“We don’t really have a say in [the primary dates],” she said. “And you know, we just follow the guidelines that are given to us.”