On June 23, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in “In re Nomination Petition of Joseph Vodvarka”, no. 37 MAP 2016. The 22-page opinion explains why, on April 19, it voted to put Joseph Vodvarka back on the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. Senate. The Court in April had put him on the ballot but had not explained why. The June 23 decision explains its reasoning.

Vodvarka needed 2,000 signatures. Whether he had enough valid depended on whether signatures are valid if the signer’s address on the petition doesn’t match his or her address in the voter registration rolls. The June 23 decision says those signatures are valid, assuming both addresses are in the same county. The June 23 opinion also says that back in 2001, when the same court came to a contrary decision, it had been in error. The erroneous decision from 2001 was “In re nomination petition of Flaherty.” The June 23 opinion says, “Flaherty’s rationale was in error…Unfortunately, in Flaherty, this Court failed to identify the changes to Pennsylvania’s voter registration laws…To the extent (if any) that our subsequent decisions in Nader and Gales are inconsistent with the present decision, they are also overturned.”

On June 29, Better for America, the group of conservatives who hope to recruit an independent presidential candidate and place him or her on ballots, asked to file an amicus brief in Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, one of the two lawsuits on general election presidential debates. Here is a statement from Better for America about its desire to file the brief.

Also on June 29, Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is handling the case, denied permission for Sam Husseini to file an amicus brief. Husseini is a journalist and the founder of VotePact.org. The FEC had asked the judge to deny permission for Husseini to file. It will be interesting to see if the FEC also asks that Better for America be blocked. Thanks to the Independent Voters Network for the news about Better for America.