Two candidates for office in the Lehigh Valley are facing challenges to their petition signatures, which if successful could see the two political hopefuls kicked off the May primary ballot.
Ana Tiburcio, who was elected to an unexpired term representing the 22nd District in the state’s House of Representatives in February and is seeking the Democratic nomination to run for a full, two year term, and Taiba Sultana, former Easton City Council member who is challenging state Sen. Lisa Boscola for her seat in the 18th Senate district, both face claims that some signatures they gathered in support of their candidacy are invalid.
Jessica Lee Ortiz, owner of the nonprofit Ortiz Ark Foundation, and Paulette Hunter, an Allentown resident, filed a joint challenge to Tiburcio’s petition, claiming that at least 317 of the signatures she collected are invalid because some of the signees are not registered members of the party, live outside the district, printed incorrect names and addresses or other errors. Hunter and Ortiz are represented by lawyer Elliot Love.
Candidates for state representative must collect 300 valid signatures from voters who are members of their respective political party and residents of the district in which they are running. Tiburcio turned in 578 signatures to the Pennsylvania Department of State by the March 10 deadline.
Tiburcio is being sworn in to the 22nd District seat on Monday to fill out the remainder of former Rep. Josh Siegel’s term, which expires at the end of the year.
Ortiz and Hunter’s challenge also claim problems with the petition circulators’ affidavits, which are sworn documents from people who help to circulate and gather signatures from residents in support of a candidate.
“As a resident of House District 22 for more than 27 years, I simply want fairness, transparency and integrity in our elections,” Ortiz said in a written statement. “Our community deserves confidence that the process is being conducted honestly and according to the law.”
Tiburcio is running in the May 19 primary and faces a challenge from fellow Democrat Ce-Ce Gerlach. Republican Robert Smith, who lost to Tiburcio in the special election, is running unopposed in his party’s primary.
She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In the 18th District primary, four challengers — Celeste Dee, Patricia Bruno, Pamela Panto and Patricia Hitzell — filed an effort Tuesday to challenge Sultana’s petition signatures. Ray Lahoud, an Allentown-based lawyer and prolific political donor, is representing the challengers.
Most of the challengers are connected to local Democratic party politics. Pamela Panto is the wife of Easton mayor Sal Panto; Dee has managed several Democratic political campaigns, including Boscola’s; and Bruno is a former candidate for Northampton County council.
Sultana submitted 901 signatures in support of her candidacy to the state, but challengers claim at least 417 of them are invalid. Candidates for state Senate need 500 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The challengers also claim problems with Sultana’s statement of financial interest and one of the petition circulator’s affidavits.
Sultana faced a similar petition challenge in 2024, when she challenged state Rep. Bob Freeman in the Democratic primary for the 136th District seat.
In that challenge, Freeman claimed that a circulator for Sultana’s candidate petitions forged Boscola’s signature and turned it into the state. Boscola also denied signing Sultana’s petition and endorsed Freeman.
However, because Sultana had gathered enough valid signatures in 2024, she remained on the ballot. She lost to Freeman in the primary.
“My clients are four local Democratic women are not afraid to call Sultana out for breaking the rules this time,” Lahoud said in a written statement.
As of Wednesday morning, no court hearings had been scheduled in either case. If the challenges are found to be valid by a judge, the candidates could be disqualified from the May 19 primary election.
In a written statement, Sultana declined to comment on the specific allegations in the challenge, but said her campaign “will fight this challenge in court, and we are confident that we will remain on the ballot.”
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.