Pennsylvania Minor Parties File New Lawsuit Against Petition-Checking Procedure that Threatens Petitioners with Huge Court Costs if Petition is Insufficient http://www.ballot-access.org/
May 21st, 2012
On May 17, the Pennsylvania Constitution, Green, and
Libertarian Parties filed a new federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania
system for checking petitions. The system, ever since 2004, has put
petitioning candidates in jeopardy of paying court costs of up to
$100,000 if their petitions are found to lack enough valid signatures.
The case is in the eastern district, in Philadelphia. Here is the complaint.
The case, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 5:12-cv-2726, was assigned to Judge Lawrence Stengel, the same U.S. District Court judge who ruled in a similar case in 2009 that the plaintiff parties lack standing. This time, the complaint has been designed to withstand that peril.
Pennsylvania and Alabama are the only states in which no statewide minor party or independent candidates appeared on the ballot in any non-presidential election year, during the period 2005 to the present. All the statewide minor party petitions filed in 2010 in Pennsylvania were withdrawn after major party leaders threatened to challenge those petitions. In 2006, the only statewide petition submitted by a minor party or independent candidate was the Green Party petition, and the party’s U.S. Senate nominee, Carl Romanelli, was ordered to pay over $80,000 when that petition was found lacking in enough valid signatures. The only statewide minor party or independent petitions that have succeeded in Pennsylvania in the last seven years are the 2008 Libertarian petition and the 2008 independent Ralph Nader petition.
The case, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 5:12-cv-2726, was assigned to Judge Lawrence Stengel, the same U.S. District Court judge who ruled in a similar case in 2009 that the plaintiff parties lack standing. This time, the complaint has been designed to withstand that peril.
Pennsylvania and Alabama are the only states in which no statewide minor party or independent candidates appeared on the ballot in any non-presidential election year, during the period 2005 to the present. All the statewide minor party petitions filed in 2010 in Pennsylvania were withdrawn after major party leaders threatened to challenge those petitions. In 2006, the only statewide petition submitted by a minor party or independent candidate was the Green Party petition, and the party’s U.S. Senate nominee, Carl Romanelli, was ordered to pay over $80,000 when that petition was found lacking in enough valid signatures. The only statewide minor party or independent petitions that have succeeded in Pennsylvania in the last seven years are the 2008 Libertarian petition and the 2008 independent Ralph Nader petition.
