Pennsylvania legislation · 2025-2026 Regular Session
Pennsylvania HR384: A Resolution directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study regarding the feasibility of implementing both a Statewide ballot rotation system and a precinct ballot rotation system for the order of listing candidates on ballots in primary and general elections and for each type of office and to issue a report.
Status: In committee, June 1, 2026
What the bill says
A resolution Directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study regarding the feasibility of implementing both a Statewide ballot rotation system and a precinct ballot rotation system for the order of listing candidates on ballots in primary and general elections and for each type of office and to issue a report.
From the introduced text, January 8, 2026:
A RESOLUTION Directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study regarding the feasibility of implementing both a Statewide ballot rotation system and a precinct ballot rotation system for the order of listing candidates on ballots in primary and general elections and for each type of office and to issue a report. WHEREAS, Research and experience in election administration indicate that the order in which candidates are listed on ballots can confer measurable advantages that are unrelated to candidate quality or voter preference, sometimes referred to as "ballot order effects"; and WHEREAS, Rotational systems are used in various jurisdictions to reduce or eliminate such effects by systematically varying candidate order; and WHEREAS, Any changes to ballot order practices in this Commonwealth must be consistent with the requirements of the Constitution of Pennsylvania concerning elections, including uniformity of election and registration laws, and with the Pennsylvania Election Code, including its provisions governing ballot layout and the casting of lots or other processes determining candidate order; therefore be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives direct the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a comprehensive study regarding the feasibility of implementing both a Statewide ballot rotation system and a precinct ballot rotation system for the order of listing candidates on the ballot in both primary and general elections and for each …