George F. Will has this column about U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and the possibility that he will run for president outside the two major parties. Will says Sanders has said he might have trouble getting on ballots, and then chides Sanders, saying George Wallace got on in 1968 in all states even though Wallace had a “miniscule” budget. Will also says ballot access in 1968 for Wallace was more difficult than it is today.

Wills’ blanket statement that ballot access for a presidential candidate running outside the major parties was more difficult in 1968 than today is misleading. During the period 1969-1971, more hostile changes were made to the ballot access laws than at any other time in U.S. history, so it is certainly true that ballot access in 2015 is easier than it was in 1972. But there is a big difference between 1968 and 1972. Ballot access for president was easier in 1968 than it is today in these 19 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. Wallace only needed 52,051 valid signatures from those 19 states, whereas in 2016 someone running outside the major parties, and using the easier method, would need 272,958 valid signatures in those 19 states (Pennsylvania’s 2016 petition requirement can’t be known now, but this calculation estimates 25,000).

Wallace didn’t need any signatures at all in Alabama, Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, or New Mexico, because in 1968 those states let any party on the ballot with no petition; it just had to request a place on the ballot.

Will could have said that Sanders is free to seek the Green Party nomination. The Green Party is on the ballot for president in 2016 in states containing 55.4% of the total popular 2012 vote, and that percentage will rise as the Green Party completes more petitions during 2015 and 2016.

On January 13, 2015, two individuals who had previously run for President filed a petition for cert with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to rule that California election officials have a constitutional duty to investigate the constitutional qualifications of presidential candidates before listing them on the ballot. The two individuals who filed the case are John Albert Dummett, Jr., and Edward C. Noonan. Dummett had declared for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and is also seeking the nomination in 2016. He lives in California. Edward C. Noonan, another Californian, had sought the presidential nomination of the American Independent Party in 2012. The case is Dummett v Padilla, 14-826.

The cert petition takes pains to say that the case is not about President Obama, and that the issue of presidential constitutional qualifications is unsettled law that the Court should settle for the sake of future elections. California’s Secretary of State kept some minor party presidential candidates off the 2012 presidential primary ballots because of constitutional qualification concerns, yet refused to investigate the qualifications of some major party presidential candidates in both 2008 and 2012. The problem for lawsuits like this one is that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to reject electoral votes cast for ineligible presidential candidates. Page 26 of the cert petition says, “After a general election has occurred, it is unrealistic to expect that objections will be lodged by Members of Congress based on the constitutional eligibility of a candidate.”

This particular case was filed in California state courts. The state court of appeals rejected the case last year, and the California Supreme Court refused to hear it on October 15, 2014.

New Hampshire Representative Max Abramson (R-Seabrook) has introduced a bill to lower the number of signatures for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Current law requires 3,000 signatures for statewide office. The bill would convert petitions for all office to one-tenth of 1% of the population. For statewide candidates, the requirement during this decade would be 1,317 signatures. The bill will be given a bill number in the next few days.