U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel will hear oral arguments in Constitution Party v Aichele on September 11, Tuesday, at 10 a.m, in Philadelphia. This is the case that maintains that Pennsylvania’s system for checking petitions violates U.S. Supreme Court precedents going back to the early 1960’s, that voters and candidates can’t be forced to pay to participate in elections. The plaintiffs are asking for an injunction, or a restraining order, against any attempt by Pennsylvania to force the petitioning parties to pay as much as $100,000 if the petition-review process finds that the petition doesn’t have enough valid signatures.
9-11… perfect!
Can the CST also throw in the word “extortion” during the case? I looked up the word yesterday so that I did not throw it out there casually. It seems as if one side received something of value (a lack of competition) in exchange for the removal of the threat(a 100K fee). How would it go over if someone told their legislator that if he/she would not pass simpler ballot access laws, a 3rd party would intentionally run someone against him/her in order to ensure that said incumbent would lose (since we have not progressed to letting people rank their choices when voting)? Would this be considered extortion?
Pingback: U.S. District Court Will Hear Case on Pennsylvania Challenge-Fee System on September 11 | ThirdPartyPolitics.us