Pennsylvania Elections Department has released the first registration totals for any minor parties since February 2020. The new figures are: Democratic 4,075,927; Republican 3,458,241; Libertarian 46,037; Green 10,240; independent and miscellaneous 1,222,818.

The percentages are: Democratic 46.25%; Republican 39.24%; Libertarian .52%; Green .12%; independent and miscellaneous 13.87%.

In February 2020, the percentages were: Democratic 47.45%; Republican 38.19%; Libertarian .47%; Green .12%; independent and miscellaneous 13.77%.

Arizona State Senator Martin Quezada (D-Phoenix) has introduced B 1668, to eliminate Arizona presidential primaries. Parties would be required to choose delegates to the national conventions by caucus, and the bill also requires caucuses to be open to independent voters as well as party members. That part of the bill would be unconstitutional. States have no authority to tell parties that non-members must be permitted to participate in party-financed and administered caucuses. Thanks to Josh Putnam for news about the bill.

On February 11, the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee passed HB 3262. It would require candidates seeking the nomination of a party that nominates by convention to pay a filing fee during March of an election year. It has 21 sponsors, all Republicans: Russell Fry, Chip Huggins, Sylleste Davis, William Newton, Garry Smith, Adam Morgan, James Burns, Shannon Erickson, Linda Bennett, Anne Thayer, Bill Taylor, Bruce Bryant, Jason Elliott, Mark Willis, Raye Felder, Sandy McGarry, V. Stephen Moss, Patrick Haddon, Steven Long, Thomas Pope, and Cal Forrest.

If enacted, the bill would be unconstitutional for two different reasons. The first is that the Fourth Circuit ruled in Dixon v Maryland State Board of Elections, 878 F 2d 776 (1989) that states can’t require filing fees, unless the purpose of the filing fee is to keep a ballot uncrowded. In the Dixon case, the court struck down a $290 fee to file as a declared write-in candidate. The rationale was that a write-in candidate does not cause any ballot to be crowded with too many names. Similarly, for the South Carolina situation, a candidate seeking the nomination of a convention party is not causing any primary ballot to be crowded, because there are no primary ballots for parties that nominate by convention.

Independently of that, South Carolina has lost two federal cases in the past when it tried to enforce other election procedures on newly-qualifying parties. The bill requires fees to be paid in March of election years, but the election law also says that a petition for a new party is not due until May of an election year. In 1996 the Natural Law Party submitted a petition by the deadline, but the state tried to keep it off the ballot because it had not held various conventions in the months before it qualified. A U.S. District Co9urt said the state can’t impose duties on parties before they have submitted their petition. Natural Law Party v DePass, 3:96-2301 (1996).

The state tried to impose the same rules on the Working Families Party in 2006, the yeare it submitted its petition, and again that was held unconstitutional. Working Families Party v Bowers, 3:06-2125. Thanks to Scott West for the news about the bill. UPDATE: see this story about the bill.