U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel holds a telephone conference call with the attorneys in the ballot access case on Tuesday, June 28, at noon eastern time. He has been holding such telephonic hearings daily, each time seeming to wait to see if the Pennsylvania legislature passes HB 342, a bill that changes the ballot access laws for minor parties and independent candidates.

On June 27, Monday, the Pennsylvania House sent HB 342 to Rules, which seems to mean the House won’t vote on the bill on June 28. Furthermore the legislature’s web page says HB 342 is not scheduled for a vote on the House floor on June 28. Therefore, it seems likely that Judge Stengel will make a decision about what the rules will be this year, probably at today’s court hearing. These hearings usually last approximately an hour.

The Pennsylvania House has adjourned for the day, Monday, June 27. The House did not consider the ballot access bill, HB 342. It will come into session at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 28. The U.S. District Court hearing the ballot access case will hold another telephone hearing at noon, Tuesday, June 28.

A Georgia state trial court will hear a challenge to the 5% petition requirement, for independent candidates for district and county office, on July 8 at 10 a.m. The case is Garner v Boren, Muscogee County, su 16-cv-1720. The plaintiff is an independent candidate for Muscogee County Court Clerk. The law requires him to submit 5,226 valid signatures by July 12. That number is approximately 45% of all the votes cast in the primary for that office. If he doesn’t win the case, the voters will see only one candidate, the Republican Party nominee, on the November ballot.