Schweyer challenges Santiago's nominating petitions in court
Court could knock Santiago off 134th District Democratic primary ballot
State Rep. Peter Schweyer of Allentown says in a court filing that nearly half of the signatures on the nomination petitions of his only Democratic primary opponent are invalid, which, if a state court agrees, could knock that candidate off the May 17 primary ballot.
A complaint filed Monday with Commonwealth Court says the nominating petitions of Enid Santiago did not have the required 300 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
Santiago’s petitions contained 508 signatures, but Schweyer alleges 240 of those are invalid, mostly because many of those 240 who signed the petitions are not registered Democrats who live in the new 134th District as required by law. The district comprises Emmaus and parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township.
A candidate for the state House needs 300 signatures to get on the ballot, and if the court agrees with Schweyer, Santiago’s petitions would fall 32 short of that number. Two others joined Schweyer in the challenge: Leroy Bachert Jr. and Luis Lantigua.
The Santiago campaign could not be reached for comment. A campaign phone number would not accept a voicemail message, and a text message to the campaign was not answered.
Commonwealth Court set a hearing on the petition challenge 9:30 a.m. Thursday in Harrisburg.
This is the second time that Schweyer and Santiago became embroiled in an election-related challenge.
Two years ago, Santiago, co-founder of the nonprofit SELF! Women’s Reentry who made her first attempt at state office, lost the 2020 Democratic primary to incumbent Schweyer in the then-22nd District by a mere 55 votes.
Santiago said the results of the primary should not have been certified because an election judge acknowledged improperly darkening voters’ marks on some ballots so the selections could be recognized by voting machine scanners.
The Lehigh County Board of Elections said Santiago never filed a complaint with the county court; by the time she questioned the election results, the deadline to ask the court to consider the case had passed, The Morning Call reported at the time.
Because of redistricting that took effect this year, Schweyer and Santiago now live in the 134th District.
