On January 27, U.S. District Court Judge Yvette Kane refused to enjoin three Pennsylvania ballot access restrictions that apply to primary petitions. In Pennsylvania, all candidates need petitions to get on a primary ballot. Benezet Consulting v Cortes, m.d., 1:16cv-74. The seven-page decision says that it would not be fair to change the rules now. Primary petitioning started January 26. The opinion says that there are 1,400 primary petitions circulating, and that if any of the three restrictions were enjoined, that would cause confusion.

The three challenged laws were already declared unconstitutional last year for general election petitions. They are the ban on out-of-state circulators, the requirement that each petition sheet be notarized, and the requirement that voters may only sign for one candidate per office.

The decision says that the plaintiff first contacted state election officials to ask about the rules on October 22, 2015, and that he should have filed the lawsuit last year. The case was filed on January 14, 2016.

Just before the Pennsylvania decision came out, the attorney for the plaintiff notified the judge of the Connecticut order enjoining the ban on out-of-state circulators. But the Pennsylvania decision does not mention the Connecticut case.