Election Day 2018 was over one month ago, but questions are still swirling about the status of SD-38. Democrat Lindsey Williams defeated Republican Jeremy Shaffer by a razor thin margin to flip the GOP held state Senate seat in Western PA.
Republicans in the state have been questioning whether or not Williams meets the constitutional requirement that state senators be Pennsylvania residents for four years prior to the date of their election, WESA reports. Last week, Williams submitted nearly 100 pages of material to state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati believing it provides sufficient proof that she is eligible to hold the seat.
This may lead to an interesting showdown between Republicans and Democrats in Harrisburg.
Should Lindsey Williams be seated in SD-38?
- Yes (64%)
- No (36%)
Total Voters: 3,243
35 Responses
It’s sad what the Republicans have done to this district. First they elected the corrupt Jane Orie then this year they dumped a decent guy in Vulockovich for a tea bagger and then get all red arsed when the Democrat wins. The entire Republican party needs a serious enema.
This poll is garbage. We voted. She won. The GOP is trying to steal a seat they lost.
I think this question is basically “Are you a Democrat or a Republican?”
The bottom line does not deal with party affiliation. This whole debate deals with the laws put in place to run the country. If Lindsey Williams did not follow the law requiring residency she should not be seated. If she followed the law then she should be seated. Laws are put in place for situations (like this) that have happened in the past and they need to be followed and enforced. Ignorance is no excuse.
LET’S PLAY THIS OUT
The GOP refuses to accept her
The GOP Senate schedules a special election
Sen. Williams campaign bumper sticker and buttons all say:
RE-ELECT SENATOR WILLIAMS.
women come out in drives to RE ELECT SENATOR WILLIAMS
what have you accomplished???
I’m a Dem, and I like Williams positions. But I can see her losing this one…maybe.
If the law requires effort and/or intent to relocate, then she has it in a slam dunk. I’d bet most Republicans even agree with that. But if the law requires actual permanent residence established, I don’t see how she swings that. The cited 1956 state Supreme Court opinion seems to make a strong case for the former. But if it is the later, the speeding ticket in November that still showed her as a Maryland resident is incredibly strong evidence that she was not a resident in PA.
We’ve all been in the middle of moves. I am currently doing the same thing Williams was at that time. But until I change my residence to my new place I “intend” to live, I still legally live, pay taxes and vote in my current legal residence. The date should be when I change over my drivers license. Until then, any speeding tickets I may get will certainly and rightfully charge me at my legal (current/former) address.
OK, this post is the first of like 27 times I tried to post to this lame website. It kept kicking me out. Whatever “Gateway Timeout. The gateway did not receive a timely response from the upstream server or application. Additionally, a 504 Gateway Timeout error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.” means.
I have to wonder how many votes were not counted because of the gateway whatever. Or how many folks revoted thinking theirs didn’t go through.
Anyhow, my apologies if this now posts all the repeated times I tried to post it. That was not my intent.
The speeding ticket was Nov 2. Not the middle of November.
OK. If so, then that becomes a non-issue. Where she lived on Nov 2 has no bearing as that is beyond the 4 years in question. Crucial point.
It doesn’t require “actual permanent residence established”. According to her filing, the courts ruled that even staying at a hotel, while looking for a home/apartment qualified as establishing residence.
The speeding ticket means that she was a PA resident with a Maryland driver’s license. She hadn’t switched over driver’s license yet, even though she was a resident, because she wanted to finalize her PA address. You can be homeless and still a resident of PA.
The date you change your driver’s license is the most idiotic criteria. Mail from your old address can still be forwarded to your new address. (If the old address was that of a family member, you can still get the mail.). But, what if you move into Center City Philadelphia and don’t bother to get a driver’s license because you plan to use SEPTA. Driver’s license isn’t a requirement. (GOP purposely picked driver’s license for there VoterID law specifically to suppress the votes of non-drivers.)
I’m a republican and this is bullshit. She won and was home before the deadline. Let her have the seat. Republicans in her district suck it up and own your lose in the election. Lindsey Williams will serve the people in her district in an awesome way. Take some time and meet her. Take some time and review her agenda.
Hear hear!
If she is seated without being a resident, I should be seated because I won a gold medal 20 years ago!
Little Woody, if you are listening, I miss you! And I miss your money! Come back!
Renee and Jon– no, she voted in Maryland in October.
Rules– they have been released.
She voted early voting in OCTOBER (not at the polls in November). She was in PA too late to register here. Are you saying that she should have been denied the right to vote anywhere during her move?
Why not just submit her Pennsylvania tax return for 2014, which as someone there for nearly two months after all, she should have filed?
When Trump “submits” (releases) his!
You mean like he promised to do like 2 years ago, as soon as some supposed “audit” was completed. Surely the IRS is done with their so-called audit, and POTUS would never lie.
Surely the Williams campaign could release these documents to the public. Perhaps they include that time when she was 17 and half years old but argued with the bouncer that her mom intended to have her and that’s as good as a birthdate.
She voted in Maryland sfter Nov 4th. It was her legal residence. Flopping on a couch is not residency. And no, I don’t even believe the friends’ affidavits.
But what do I know, she thinks all white people, even those in her district, are racists
She did not vote in Maryland on Nov 4. She voted early in Maryland before Nov 4.
I believe you’re thinking of Sara Innamorato.
No way. Don’t seat her so I can run for this is seat in the special elections.
Without question this is embarrassing to the Republican Party in Pennsylvania that they religiously block redistricting and then even block people who win elections fair and square. Good government is weeping somewhere over this sad state of affairs. King Scarnati needs to allow the will of the people to prevail and seat Senator Williams. There is no question this is what needs to be done.
she voted in MD after November 4th which means that she was a legal resident of Maryland or committed voter fraud….either way that is a big problem
No. She voted early voting BEFORE Nov 4th.
she still voted IN ANOTHER STATE!
The big untold story here is that the people would actually vote for a person that is a Socialist and who eagerly sought out the endorsement of the Democrat Socialists. America has come to the point that a new generation does not know of the dangers of socialism, instead they are actively anti-capitalist. Sad. Very, very sad.
Another example of the growing GOP attack on democracy. To heck with the will of the people or the popular vote.
Hell with social security and Medicare these socialist programs
Unfettered capitalism has proven an abysmal failure in providing for a citizenry. So we the ever younger and more educated people are trying something new. Hand me the world’s smallest violin so that I can play an ode to the America that used to great for the few and shrinking numbers.
Steven W Todd
Proud member, Democratic Socialists of America
Maybe if conservatives stopped labeling everything to the left of the John Birch Society as “socialism”, people would stop associating socialism with the social safety net and public spending and instead confine it to the public ownership of the means of production.
Actually, the ideas of Democratic Socialism are more popular in the US and the world that those of hard right laizer-faire capitalism boardering on fascism which is what the Republican party has become.
Maybe if Scarnati had any inkling of how the law worked here, he wouldn’t say such foolish things like in the WESA piece. I feel embarrassed for him watching him either express genuine ignorance of the law or intentionally misinterpret its meaning, neither of which is a good look.
Intention is an important factor of legal domicile. Taking up in a hotel in Florida during a two-week business trip doesn’t make you a Floridian, just as selling your house and moving your family and belongings to Virginia doesn’t mean you still have to pay PA income taxes until you die. It is plainly obvious that Senator Williams was domiciled in the district by the date in question. She had a job and she had taken up residence with every intention (later fulfilled) of finding more permanent lodging. She was living and working in the district.
This hemming and hawing on Republicans’ part is a naked attempt to overturn a democratic election, and it is shameful. They are truly the Party of Trump.
Trump Lost the Popular Vote.
Shaffer Lost the Popular Vote.
Shaffer should be seated !!