HARRISBURG -- New state legislative maps, which were planned for a vote today, are still being negotiated, according to top lawmakers who held a brief meeting this afternoon.

A potential vote on new state House of Representatives and Senate maps to replace the ones rejected last month by the state Supreme Court was rescheduled for Tuesday.

Most of the five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission offered few insights as their progress on redrawing district boundaries with fewer split counties and municipalities as the court decreed.

"The commissioners have been intensely, some would say fiercely, but certainly intensely, trying to arrive at a plan," said Senior Judge Stephen McEwen, the commission chairman. "It has come close, but we're not there yet."

As lawmakers scramble to fix their legislative maps, officials have been proceeding with the April 24 primary election using the boundaries set following the 2000 census. Candidate petitions for state offices were due last week, but some Republicans have continued to say that they believe this year's elections could still be held under the yet-unfinished revised maps.

One top Senate Republican, Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, revised his view this afternoon. He previously had said that the late-breaking court opinion had put the primary election date "in jeopardy," but now says there is too much uncertainty about when an updated map will be finalized to delay the election.

"I do not think at this point it is going to be practical to move legislation to extend the primary date," Mr. Pileggi told reporters.

House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said leaders in that caucus still see options for potentially adjusting that election date after the new maps are complete.