On April 12, Pennsylvania filed this brief in Benezet Consulting LLC v Secretary Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 20-2976. This is a case filed in 2016 against the Pennsylvania ban on out-of-state circulators for primary election petitions. In 2020 the U.S. District Court held the ban to be unconstitutional as applied to the plaintiffs, for the 2020 election only. The state is not appealing that decision. But the plaintiffs are appealing, because they feel that the relief should extend to all future elections, for all future out-of-state circulators who want to work on primary petitions.

The state says the reason the U.S. District Court was right to restrict relief is that other future out-of-state circulators might be unwilling to promise to submit to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania officials, in case there is any question about their work. Footnote six of the state’s brief says, “The petition circulator business lacks stability. Independent contractors are used instead of regular employees. The record demonstrates that those who contract with Benezet and similar companies are generally transient and do not have fixed addresses. This fully supports the conclusion that the district court could not determine wither other paid petition circulators would in fact submit to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania courts.”

This seems silly. There seems to be no reason why the U.S. District Court could not have simply ruled the restriction unconstitutional as applied to all present and future out-of-state circulators who do agree to submit to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania officials. That is how similar cases from other states have been handled.

On April 8, the Public Policy institute of California (PPIC) hosted an hour interview with Dr. Shirley Weber, California’s new Secretary of State. In response to a question, she stated that she is opposed to the top-two system because it keeps minor party candidates out of the general election campaign. She also said that she has talked to the people who brought the top-two system into existence in California, and they tend to agree that the top-two system hasn’t really changed California government or policy. She said the biggest change is that it benefits campaign consultants.

One can watch the entire interview, which has a fascinating account of her family’s background in Arkansas. If you just want to watch the part about her comments about top-two, that is starts at 48 minutes and 30 seconds, and lasts three minutes.

Clyde Cook, the only Republican who filed for the New Jersey State Senate District 5 seat, only submitted 105 signatures. His petition was challenged and he was removed from the primary ballot. The requirement is 100 signatures. See this story. The primary is in June 2021. New Jersey allows write-ins in primaries, so Cook may still win the nomination if he receives at least 100 write-ins and no one else polls more write-ins than that.