ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A would-be magisterial district judge experienced some courtroom drama Monday as he appealed his exclusion from the Lehigh County primary ballot.
Lehigh County Judge Thomas Capehart heard hours of testimony and legal arguments about whether Patrick Palmer was wrongfully turned away from the county's voter registration office March 7. That was the filing deadline to become a candidate in the May primary election.
- Patrick Palmer is trying to appear on the May primary ballot in an Allentown magisterial district judge race
- Lehigh County officials say he missed the 4 p.m. filing deadline on March 7. He arrived at the voter registration office one minute late.
- Palmer's lawyer argued Monday he should be allowed on because he started the filing process by paying a $50 fee in another office minutes before the deadline
Palmer, an Allentown School Board director, had arrived at the Lehigh County Government Center at 3:55 p.m. but hadn't turned in his election documents and candidate petition by the 4 p.m. deadline.
By that point, Palmer had already experienced a number of delays. His grandfather was in hospice, his mother was sick and another driver rear-ended him as he went to file his petition at the government center. After making it through security, Palmer testified, he went to the county's fiscal affairs office to pay a mandatory $50 filing fee to get onto the ballot. As he watched the seconds slip by, he asked if he could run downstairs without his receipt to turn in his petition and other documents.
"She said, no, you're not allowed to go downstairs," Palmer testified.
The clerk, Theresa Kaczmarczyk, later testified that she told Palmer he couldn't leave because her office would be closed by the time he came back to retrieve the receipt, which was necessary to file.
As a result, Palmer didn't leave the fiscal affairs office until 4 p.m., according to the time stamp on county surveillance cameras. A LehighValleyNews.com reporter saw Palmer try to enter the voter registration office around 4:01 p.m., but staff there had already locked the door.
Palmer returned to the county the next day, protesting how his application was handled. After Palmer spoke with Timothy Benyo, the county's chief registrar, and Tim Reeves, the county's chief financial officer, Reeves wrote him a letter saying the county would review its processes so a situation like this wouldn't happen again.
But county attorneys argued that Palmer shouldn't be allowed on the ballot. On cross-examination, Reeves testified he wrote the letter so Palmer could document the timeline for his case. However, he later reviewed the courthouse surveillance footage, which showed Palmer had less time to file than Reeves initially believed. His office, Reeves testified, was not at fault for Palmer's late filing.
"The late filing occurred here because of Mr. Palmer's own negligence," said county attorney Joshua Mazin.
Richard Santee, Palmer's attorney, argued it doesn't matter when Palmer arrived at the election office. By paying his filing fee before the 4 p.m. deadline, he had begun his filing process and that the county was obligated to allow him to finish it. Benyo testified that had Palmer arrived in line at the voter registration office before it closed, he would have qualified for the ballot even if the clerks hadn't finished his paperwork by 4 p.m. The same rules should apply since Palmer had started turning in his paperwork upstairs, Santee said.
"That was the moment he presented his petition," he argued.
Santee is also the solicitor for the Northampton County Board of Elections. After the hearing, Santee said that filing fees and petitions are handled in the same office space in the neighboring county. That prevents similar situations from occurring there.
Capehart did not immediately make a ruling in the case.
Palmer is attempting to run for judge of Magisterial District Court 31-1-09, a new court that will preside over hearings originating in Allentown's Sixth and 10th wards. Magisterial district judges preside over the lowest level of court cases in Pennsylvania, which include parking tickets, traffic infractions, minor criminal matters and civil court cases that don't eclipse $12,000. The only candidate currently on the ballot is Marc McCants, who filed to run as a Democrat.
Palmer has been a mainstay of city politics the past four years but has seen limited success. He challenged interim Mayor Ray O'Connell in 2019 but came in a distant third in the Democratic primary. He narrowly missed a seat on city council in 2021, losing to incumbent Ed Zucal by 21 votes in the Democratic primary. Months later, he was appointed to a vacancy on the Allentown School Board, where he continues to serve.
