On February 3, U.S. District Court Judge J. Nicholas Banjan sent Cornel West’s Pennsylvania ballot access lawsuit to mediation. West v Pennsylvania Department of State, w.d., 2:24cv-1349. The issue is Pennsylvania’s policy of requiring each candidate for presidential elector to file his or her own notarized declaration of candidacy. By contrast, the Democratic and Republican candidates for presidential elector need not file anything; instead their parties simply provide a list to the state elections office.

Because Pennsylvania also now requires petitioning groups to file a full slate of electors, paperwork concerning presidential electors kept not only West off the ballot, but the presidential nominees of the Constitution Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation off the ballot, last year.

The judge says he consulted with both sides before sending the case to arbitration. It seems plausible that the state doesn’t really care that much about its policy on presidential electors, and is prepared to interpret its law in the future to not require the notarized declarations for petitioning candidates for presidential elector. Here is the court order.