On February 1, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel issued an order deleting the county distribution requirement for statewide petitions for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, e.d. 5:12cv-2726. Therefore, there is no need for any future petitions to include at least 250 signatures from each of ten counties. This result came about because the Third Circuit had suggested that such county distribution requirements are unconstitutional unless the state could show that the requirement had no impact on voting rights. That motivated the state to consent to dropping the requirement.

Minor party and independent candidates for Governor in Pennsylvania in 2018 therefore need 5,000 signatures, which can be gathered anywhere in the state.