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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Babette Josephs |
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Committee approves bills on voting standards, candidate financial disclosures
HARRISBURG, June 17 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., said that two of her bills were reported out of the House State Government Committee this week.
One bill would make permanent the voting standards that were adopted based on federal law and another would allow candidates to amend their financial disclosure statement to correct mistakes.
"Both bills are important for their own reasons," said Josephs, who also is chairwoman of the committee. "The voting standards bill would maintain the state's uniformity in the decision of what is a valid or invalid vote, while the other piece of legislation would make it easier for candidates to correct unintentional mistakes on their financial disclosure paperwork."
Under H.B. 1595, the court would have the authority to allow candidates to correct non-fraudulent errors and omissions in their financial disclosure statement after it's been filed so they can remain on the ballot. This legislation was prompted by a case in Philadelphia earlier this year in which a judge removed Seth Williams from the ballot for city district attorney because it was ruled that he failed to disclose $10,300 in campaign expense reimbursements as income -- even though he corrected it. The state Supreme Court later did restore his name to the ballot.
"We are faced here with two important conflicting public policies," Josephs said. "The statement of financial interests is an essential document for transparency in government. It could disclose to our constituents potential inappropriate incentives for making legislative decisions.
"The goal of my bill is not to allow public officials to hide critical information. However, this is not the easiest form to fill out, even for incumbent public officials. Too often, this type of challenge to a candidate's paper work is used as a cynical tool to trip up new candidates for unintentional errors or omissions and to discourage public participation. I tried to strike a balance by encouraging the courts to take a balanced look at these statements."
With H.B. 1596, Pennsylvania would adopt permanently the voting standards that are currently being used to determine what is a valid vote. These standards were first adopted in 2003 after the Help America Vote Act required each state to adopt uniform and nondiscriminatory standards on what is counted as a valid vote. State law required the standards to be used in 2006 and 2007 elections, but Josephs' bill would require use of the standards in any election hereafter.
"Establishing this uniformity was necessary after the infamous 2000 presidential election debacle that required a vote recount in Florida," she said. "It is clear from looking at the U.S. Senate race in Minnesota from last year, which has not yet determined a winner, that states cannot leave anything to chance."
Both bills have been sent to the full House for consideration.
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