State Supreme Court upholds ruling to leave Buchtan on ballot in 46th race
The state Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to uphold a ruling that allows Republican state Senate candidate Al Buchtan to remain on the ballot in next month’s primary.
In a two-sentence order filed Friday, the state’s high court said Buchtan’s nomination petition “is deemed amended to reflect his legal residence” in Carmichaels.
Buchtan is running against state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, who has represented the 46th District since 2014, for the Republican nomination in May’s primary.
His candidacy was challenged by three Republican voters who contended his residency was not correctly listed in campaign filings. Buchtan’s nomination petition indicated a Canonsburg, Washington County address; his statement of financial interests indicated a Carmichaels, Greene County address.
At a hearing on the matter last month, Buchtan testified he rents a home in Canonsburg, where he lives most of the time, and also maintains a home in Carmichaels, where his wife and stepdaughter live.
Last week, a Commonwealth Court judge ordered Buchtan to amend his nomination petition to use the Greene County address, prompting the voters to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court. Both counties are part of the 46th District.
On Monday, Buchtan called the Supreme Court ruling “a victory for the Republican voters, who now have a choice of an actual conservative on the ballot on May 19.”
Bartolotta, who lives in Carroll Township, said the ruling “reaffirmed that Buchtan lied to voters about where he lives.”
Only the Supreme Court order was available at press time, though it noted that opinions will be filed to explain the position of the four justices who ruled in favor of Buchtan, and the three justices who dissented.
“Conservative justices voted to remove Buchtan from the ballot, but he was protected by the Court’s liberal Democrat justices,” Bartolotta said in an emailed statement.
With the court case settled and Buchtan remaining on the ballot, he said Bartolotta will have a “reckoning with Republican voters that she has been doing everything to avoid.”
The primary election is May 19.