Court refuses to bid to use old legislative districts until 24 – CBS Pittsburgh

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s highest court on Friday rejected a top Republican lawmaker’s proposal to use the existing boundaries of legislative districts in this year’s election. , rather than new boundaries being redrawn as part of a decade-long adjustment to demographic change.

The state Supreme Court denied the request of House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, Center R, in an unsigned one-sentence order.

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The next legislative election after this year is in 2024.

However, the 30-day deadline continues for the court to accept challenges to the new county boundaries approved by the five-member Legislative Redistricting Committee for this year’s election.

Opponents of the committee’s approved boundary may file an appeal and summary until March 7. Benninghoff and a group of Butler County residents have filed such appeals so far.

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Officials in Governor Tom Wolf’s administration have argued that it is too early for the court to order the old boundaries to be used in this year’s election, in part because the court hasn’t even ruled on those yet. The challenge to the boundaries was approved by the Legislative Redistricting Committee.

Wolf administration officials argued that the new county boundary could still be approved by the court in time to avoid delaying the May 17 primary election.

Benninghoff was the only person to vote “no” in the committee’s 4-1 vote on February 4 to pass new county boundaries for both the House and Senate.

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