Congressional candidate tossed off the ballot
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster will not have an opponent in next month’s Republican primary.
A Commonwealth Court judge upheld a challenge earlier this month alleging that Travis Schooley of Waynesboro, Franklin County, did not have the required number of valid signatures to remain on the ballot and removed his name.
Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, whose 9th Congressional District now encompasses all of Fayette County, now will be the only candidate from either party on the ballot. No Democrats have filed to seek their party’s nomination in the April 24 primary.
Shuster was first elected to his seat in a special election in 2001. He has won re-election since.
A challenge was filed to the nomination petitions of Schooley by Jeremy Shoemaker of Chambersburg and Judy Ward of Hollidaysburg, both registered Republicans, and a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that Schooley did not have the required number of signatures and could not remain on the ballot.
The petition to set aside the nomination petitions of Schooley was filed by attorney Lawrence M. Otter of Doylestown. In the petition, Otter wrote that Schooley’s nomination petitions contained 1,045 signatures, but that his clients were challenging 202 of the signatures as invalid.
A total of 1,000 valid signatures of qualified electors who live in the congressional district are required by statue for someone to be a candidate.
The petition alleged that some of the signatures were from Cumberland County, which isn’t in the district; one was circulated by someone who wasn’t a registered Republican; and was not a registered Republican at the address she listed.
Numerous signatures were stricken from the nomination petitions, leaving Schooley with less than the number required to remain on the ballot.
Senior Judge J. Wesley Oler wrote in his opinion that because Schooley’s petition lacked the requisite number of valid signatures to appeal on the April 2012 primary ballot, the petitions would be set aside and Schooley’s name would not appear on the ballot as a Republican candidate in the 9th Congressional District in the primary.
In addition to the 9th Congressional District including all of Fayette County, it also includes portions of eastern Greene and Washington counties. Shuster had represented about a third of Fayette County.
The new district, which goes as far east as Harrisburg, includes all of Indiana, Bedford, Blair, Fulton and Franklin counties, along with parts of Cambria, Huntingdon and Somerset counties.