Rocky De La Fuente petitioned in Pennsylvania to be on the November 2016 ballot as an independent presidential candidate. Even though he appeared to have enough signatures, and even though no one challenged his petition, the Pennsylvania Department of State refused to put him on the ballot, because he had also appeared on the Democratic presidential primary in 2016.

De La Fuente sued over that in August 2016, and the case is still alive. Here is the state’s brief, explaining its action. The brief was filed June 8. The case is De La Fuente v Cortes, m.d., 1:16cv-1696. Most of the brief raises procedural objections; the only substantive discussion about whether sore loser laws can apply to presidential primaries starts on page 21. The brief does not mention that Pennsylvania counted John Anderson’s write-ins in the 1980 Republican presidential primary, and also allowed Anderson to be on the November ballot as an independent.