On September 9, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell declined Pennsylvania’s request to combine the two minor party ballot access cases. The Constitution Party case was filed in 2012 against the state’s unique system of putting petitioning groups at risk of hundreds of thousands of dollars for court costs if their petitions are found invalid. The Green Party case, filed this year, challenges the need to notarize each signature, the requirement that only registered voters may sign the petition, and the need to segregate signatures by county.

The two cases each have their own U.S. District Court Judge.