As is well-known to most readers, Pennsylvania is the only state in which the validity of petitions can only be determined by a court, and the proceedings for statewide petitions in court runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Back on March 13, 2013, but not previously noted here, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a 14-page opinion, explaining why the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania cannot recover court costs from the people who objected to the party’s statewide petition, even though the Libertarians won the court case and did appear on the ballot.

Page ten of the opinion says “Although the large number of erroneous challenges (by the people who challenged the Libertarian petition) is disturbing, it does not by itself show bad faith by Objectors where Objectors also affirmatively cooperated to resolve the validity disputes by stipulation and there was a substantial amount of error on both sides.” This decision tends to illustrate how arbitrary the Pennsylvania system is, on the variable of when court costs are or aren’t awarded. It also shows how vague the system is on the variable of when the winning side must request payment. Thanks to Tom Stevens for the link to the opinion.

Alabama will hold a special election for U.S. House, First District, in late 2013. Congressman Jo Bonner says he will resign from Congress in August 2013, so the state hasn’t formally set the special election yet. However, it is already known that any independent candidate, or any nominee of a party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, will need 5,938 signatures. Minor party petitions in Alabama need not list the name of the nominee; the petition merely mentions the party. Therefore, any party that wishes to enter this race is free to be petitioning now to get on the ballot. For independent candidates, though, the petition must list the candidate.

No minor party or independent candidate for U.S. House has been on the Alabama ballot since 2010, when the Constitution Party placed a nominee on the ballot in this very same district. That candidate, David Walter, polled 17.0% against Congressman Bonner. No Democrat ran in the 2010 race.

On June 10, Fox & Hounds, a prestigious California politics blog, carried this statement by spokesmen for the California Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Green Parties about how Proposition 14, the top-two primary, has handicapped the parties.