Centre County voters won’t see an independent candidate for commissioner on the ballot
A Centre County judge tossed aside Friday a Spring Township man’s hopes to appear on the upcoming general election ballot as an independent candidate for county commissioner.
Centre County Judge Brian Marshall sided with three county Democrats — Micaela Anne Chadwick Hayes, Paul Hallacher and Mary Bruce Serene — who argued Richard Rogers was not eligible because his paperwork did not comply with the state’s election laws.
A message left with Rogers was not immediately returned Thursday.
None of the facts at the heart of the legal challenge were in dispute. Rogers conceded he neither gathered the required number of signatures nor registered in a timely fashion.
Rogers instead testified at a hearing earlier this month he relied on information from the county’s election office that proved to be inaccurate.
He was mistakenly told several times he only needed 252 signatures for his petition to be accepted; he submitted 284. The correct number was 561.
Rogers, a longtime Democrat, was also erroneously told multiple times he needed to register as an independent by May 1. In fact, the latest he could change his registration to appear on the ballot was April 16.
In his five-page ruling, Marshall wrote he “cannot disregard explicit statutory requirements in favor of equitable principles.”
“We were pleased with the decision, felt that Judge Marshall appropriately followed the legal precedents for something like this,” attorney Jeffrey W. Stover said Thursday. “The case law is pretty clear that where an election official gives information that’s not accurate it’s still on the candidate to learn what the true rules are. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Rogers previously served as a Centre County commissioner; as an incumbent in May 2011, he narrowly lost the Democratic nomination to Michael Pipe.
He expressed regret more than once earlier this month at having to publicly discuss errors made by the county’s elections office, telling Marshall he “ran to make the county better.”
“This was never the intent, to drag in the elections office into this mess. I apologize. That’s not my intent to do that,” Rogers said earlier this month. “... However, I did rely on the information that was given to me and I did that in good faith.”
Serene and her husband donated $50 to Marshall’s campaign when he was running for the position he now holds. The judge disclosed the donation before the hearing began and Rogers did not object to Marshall presiding.
Four people will appear on the ballot for a spot on the three-member board. Mark Higgins and Amber Concepcion are running as Democrats, while Steve Dershem and Marie Librizzi are running as Republicans.
Higgins and Dershem are incumbents. Concepcion was appointed as commissioner in January to replace Pipe, who accepted a position with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration.
The general election is Nov. 7.
