On January 12, Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) again introduced the Voter Choice Act that he had introduced in 2009. This year it is Senate Bill 21. It changes the definition of “political party” to a group that has registration of at least one-twentieth of 1% of the number of registered voters. If this bill were in effect, the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties would be recognized as parties, along with the Democratic and Republican Parties. Currently, only the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties are recognized as parties. The existing law says a “party” is a group that polled 2% of the winner’s vote for either of the last two statewide elections (the Libertarians met the vote test in 2009).

The bill also says that qualified parties with less than 15% of the voter registration may nominate by convention, and inform election officials of their nominees no later than 8 weeks before the general election. They would not need any petitions. Currently, parties with less than 15% of the voter registration must submit petitions for all of their nominees (except they need no petition for special elections), and these petition requirements, for statewide office, can range all the way from 20,000 signatures to 67,000 valid signatures, because the formula for determining the number of signatures is erratic.

The bill also helps independent candidates, by cutting the number of signatures they need down to the same number of signatures that candidates running in a party primary need. Currently, statewide candidates in a primary need 2,000 signatures.