HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Pennsylvania state lawmaker wants to postpone the May 2022 primary until Aug. 2 of next year, claiming a delay is needed to accommodate the redistricting process and time to clean up voter rolls.
State Rep. Russ Diamond, (R) Lebanon County, put out a co-sponsorship memo with his plans to introduce legislation that would delay all aspects of the 2022 primary, including deadlines for petitioning and filing for ballot access.
Diamond says the main reason for this legislation is due to a lack of confidence in the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, also known as the SURE system. The legislation would require the state to update this system, and in doing so, would prohibit any existing data in the SURE system to be transferred over into the updated system.
This would essentially mean more than 8 million registered voters in Pennsylvania would be purged from the voter rolls.
Every Pennsylvanian would have to re-register to vote by showing proof of citizenship and residency.
In the memo, Rep. Diamond said, "By delaying the primary election by three months, every Pennsylvanian will have ample opportunity to re-register to vote and create certainty regarding the accuracy of our centralized voter registration system, which will promote and restore public confidence in our electoral system."
It is unclear how much support Rep. Diamond will have from his colleagues in this legislation about six months out from the May 2022 primary.