On October 31, both sides filed final briefs in the U.S. District Court in Green Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, eastern, 2:14cv-3299. This is the case filed this year against several Pennsylvania ballot access laws: (1) the ban on out-of-state circulators; (2) the requirement that each petition sheet be notarized; (3) the requirement that signers from different counties can’t sign the same sheet; (4) the requirement that voters can’t sign more than one petition for the same office; (5) the administrative decision to invalidate signatures from persons eligible to register to vote who haven’t actually registered, given the wording of the law that says they can sign. Several other points in the original complaint have already been resolved favorably, such as the requirement that signatures are invalid if the signer doesn’t add the year in the “date” column.

Here is the brief of the minor parties.

This case should not be confused with the other Pennsylvania ballot access case, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, on the issue of putting petitioning groups at risk of over $100,000 in court costs if petitions are held invalid. That is also pending in the U.S. District Court, before another judge.