Pennsylvania governor, lawmakers in talks to postpone primary to June 2 because of coronavirus

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and key members of the state legislature are preparing a proposal to postpone the April 28 primary election until June 2, The Inquirer has learned.

While no agreement has yet been reached, lawmakers and members of the governor’s administration have discussed the idea for the last several days. On Saturday, state officials and lawmakers and staffers of both parties and chambers held a call to discuss the proposal.

“It seems like it’s all coming together. … I think that it’s working, that we all agree,” said Rep. Garth Everett (R., Lycoming), chair of the House State Government Committee, whose aide was on the call. “It’s nice to see that we can all work together.”

His counterpart on the committee, Rep. Kevin Boyle (D., Philadelphia), said he expected Senate Republicans to introduce legislation early in the week and, if it passes there, it would move to the House for consideration.

Boyle said the House and Senate Democrats agree with Senate Republicans and the Wolf administration on postponement, but it’s unclear whether enough House Republicans will sign on. Wolf is a Democrat in his second term; Republicans control the House and Senate.

“I believe it is remarkably reckless to proceed with an in-person vote on April 28,” Boyle said. “It could be an absolute catastrophe to bring that number of people out to polling places, which are disproportionately at senior centers, adult rehab places, and also schools.”

County elections officials have been pleading with the state to postpone the primary, saying it is all but impossible to prepare for an April 28 election at a time when institutions are pulling out of hosting polling places and poll workers are declining to work — not to mention the possibility of endangering public health with in-person voting. Some elections offices have been temporarily closed or have been functioning with skeleton staffs as part of government shutdowns to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

“It’s certainly an issue we’d like to address sooner rather than later. They need certainty either that we’re going to have an election in April or certainty that we’re not,” said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre), who said “it’s probably appropriate” to postpone the election.

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania elections officials are pleading with the state to move the primary: ‘We’re pulling fire alarms all over the place’

Wolf has said state officials are discussing the possibility of delaying the primary election, which in addition to the Democratic presidential nomination includes party nominations for the U.S. House and state Senate and House.

“My administration is working with the legislature on that very issue and we’ve had conversations and discussions about that,” Wolf said when asked about postponing the election during a news conference Friday. “So I think the House is coming back into session next week, the Senate is meeting remotely, and I think we should have some word on that very shortly. But this is something we all recognize. … We’ve got to make a decision. We are a democracy, and we’re working together here.”

“We’re continuing to work with the legislature on this," Lyndsay Kensinger, spokesperson for Wolf, said Saturday night, when asked about the talks.

State officials in Connecticut and Indiana on Friday postponed their primary elections as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, bringing to seven the number of states that have pushed back elections.

Two of those states — Connecticut and Maryland — had originally slated their primaries for April 28, the same date as Pennsylvania’s. Of the other three states scheduled for that date, Delaware has no plan to postpone, its governor said; New York is considering it; and Rhode Island elections officials have requested a delay.

In Pennsylvania, it’s unclear whether the governor’s emergency powers allow him to unilaterally postpone the election. The clearest, most unassailable approach would be for General Assembly to pass a bill and for Wolf to sign it into law.

Boyle said he expects the legislation to confront Republican opposition in the House State Government Committee.

“This is probably where it faces its biggest hurdle, due to the ideological composition of the House State Government Republican membership,” he said.

But lawmakers from both parties, Boyle said, do seem to be increasingly concerned about the idea of holding the primary April 28. And Everett said he believed legislators are setting aside partisan differences.

“I have been encouraging the leadership of my caucus to get a bill going to move the primary,” Everett said. He has been hearing from elections directors about the need to move the election, he said, “and I’ve been communicating that to leadership.”

Mike Straub, spokesperson for the House Republicans, noted that “we haven’t had a chance to see where the majority of our caucus is at this point. It will be discussed as a full group this week.”

On the other side, “House Democrats support the idea and will have to carefully examine any legislation that comes forward,” said caucus spokesperson Bill Patton.

Corman said his caucus has not yet met to discuss postponing the election but that he does not believe there are partisan disagreements on the issue.

“The concern, if any, is if we’re going to move it to June, what makes us think that June’s going to be a better situation than April? And where do you move it from there?” he said. “I don’t know that we can delay it much later than June. If this virus problem is still here in June, I’m not sure what our options are at [that] point.”

Corman said the week ahead will be crucial. If lawmakers can reach agreement, he said, they can move quickly by amending a bill that is already partway through the legislative process instead of starting from scratch.

“Next week will be a fairly key week in whether we can get broad agreement on whether to move it or not,” he said Saturday. “Hopefully, we can find a way to do it in a day or two. … If we get to agreement, we can get it done next week.”

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.