Apr 26, 2016 4 min read

For democracy to work, its citizens must participate in elections.

But if Tuesday’s primary election is any indication, it seems Pennsylvania is trying to make it as difficult as possible for the electorate’s voice to be heard.

Two last-minute ballot changes – one that added a Senate candidate in the Democratic primary and the other that bounced a statewide referendum about the age in which judges should retire – have made Pennsylvania’s election process something of a laughingstock.

It shouldn’t be this way, especially in this time of political discontent, where voters feel alienated from their government at seemingly all levels.

The primary took a strange turn last week when Joseph Vodvarka, an Allegheny County resident running for Senate as a Democrat, was restored to the ballot after a late appeal to the state Supreme Court. The state Commonwealth Court had removed Vodvarka from the ballot in March after a challenge to his nominating petitions.

That left Washington County elections officials scrambling to figure out how Vodvarka’s name would appear on the ballot since he had already been removed from the electronic machines. Allegheny and Greene counties were not affected because they left his name in the machines, figuring a future appeal could ultimately return his name to the ballot.

But the situation left Washington County with an interesting dilemma. The response was to offer Democratic voters paper ballots to select a Senate candidate.

Democrats must have had flashbacks to grade school, as they were forced to vote by filling out the paper ballots with ovals next to each candidate’s name. The ballots were not to be scanned until today, meaning it might be days until the candidate that won Washington County – or, perhaps, even the commonwealth – can be announced.

It’s also too soon to know what appeals might follow, and political aides to candidate Katie McGinty have already raised concerns about the process.

That wasn’t the only problem.

A referendum on the ballot asking voters whether the age in which judges should be mandated to retire – from 70 years old to 75 – won’t be counted. The state Senate voted to push the question to the general election over concerns about the referendum’s wording, although it remained on electronic ballots. While it certainly is better to have the referendum in the fall when the entire electorate is engaged, many probably had no clue that their vote on this issue Tuesday won’t be counted.

That meant the only decision that independent or unaffiliated voters were involved in for this primary was a statewide referendum whether to abolish Philadelphia’s traffic court. How riveting.

Meanwhile, there were also questions about Republican delegates and to which candidate they were committed.

The Republican State Committee in Pennsylvania does not require wording to appear on the primary ballot telling Republican voters which delegate is supporting which candidate.

What a strange way to select a nominee.

Finally, the gerrymandering of the congressional districts has created safe districts for one party or the other.

That was seen by the fact that the 9th Congressional District, which stretches from the Cumberland Valley to Carmichaels and north to Indiana County, has been so badly contorted to keep it a Republican safe district. Congressman Bill Shuster and challenger Art Halvorson, both Republicans, waged a battle in the primary, but no Democrats were on the ballot, meaning the winner of Republican primary was virtually assured the seat.

That means the 74 percent of voters in Mon Valley and the eastern side of Greene County, which are represented in the 9th Congressional District, couldn’t choose their congressman because they are registered as Democrats or independents.

This is not the way democracy was designed to work. Pennsylvania needs to make changes with its primary process to including independents or face alienating an already jaded electorate.