On June 6, bills were introduced in both houses of the New York legislature to set up rules for the 2020 presidential primaries. They are A8176 and S6374. Both bills are identical. Here is the text.

Section four of the bill includes the procedures for the all parties other than the Democratic Party. Delegates do not appear on the primary ballots. Presidential candidates get on by any of these methods: (1) by showing that they have raised at least $5,000 in each of twenty states (whether they choose to take matching funds or not); (2) by being acknowledged as candidates in the media: (3) with a petition which is the lesser of 5,000 signatures of party members, or 5% of the registered voters of that party.

Section three of the bill includes the Democratic Party procedural, which requires presidential candidates to submit 5,000 signatures of party members, and also requires delegate candidates from any particular US House district to submit 500 signatures. New York is the only state in which presidential primary ballot access is more difficult for Democratic presidential candidates than for other presidential candidates. Thanks to Josh Putnam for the news about the bill.

On June 5, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a state law that does not permit unqualified parties to engage in fusion with qualified parties. Working Families Party v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 34 EAP 2017. Pennsylvania does permit the nominees of parties that nominate by primary to engage in fusion with each other. The Working Families Party sued, saying that equal protection should permit unqualified parties to also engage in fusion with a party that nominates by primary. Here is the decision.

The vote was 4-3. Justices David Wecht and Debra Todd, both Democrats, each wrote dissents. Justice Christine Donohue, also a Democrat, joined both dissents. The Wecht dissent is 35 pages, longer than the majority opinion.

Ironically, one justfication mentioned by the court was to protect unqualified parties from being forced to engage in fusion against their will. There are other methods the state could have used to solve this problem, but the court did not mention them.

The New Jersey Elections Division has posted the list of petitioning candidates for the legislature in the November 2019 election. Out of the 40 districts (each district electing two), there are only three minor party candidates. The Legalize Marijuana Party has two candidates in the 15th district, and the Libertarian Party has one in the 37th district. Each candidate needed 100 signatures.

There are also 13 independent candidates. Independent candidates in New Jersey are free to choose any short partisan label. Here is the list.