On January 9, a U.S. District Court Magistrate denied Michigan’s attempt to dismiss Erard v Ruth Johnson, eastern district, 2:12cv-13627. The case had been filed by a Socialist Party candidate for Congress in 2012, and argues that Michigan’s ballot access laws relating to newly-qualifying parties are unconstitutional. The Report, written by Magistrate Laurie Michelson, is 71 pages long.

The Magistrate kept the case alive because she believes that two claims in the case have merit: (1) Michigan’s petition wording; (2) Michigan’s requirement that circulators of the petition must be Michigan residents. Assuming the U.S. District Court Judge approves the Magistrate’s Report, there would then be further procedings on those two points.

The Magistrate ruled against Erard on his argument that the Michigan ballot access laws are discriminatory. Erard pointed out that the Michigan petition to get on the ballot is currently 32,261 valid signatures, whereas the vote test in recent elections for an old party to remain on has been approximately 16,000 votes. Erard suggested that, therefore, the state can’t require the Socialist Party to submit more than 16,000 or so valid signatures. But the Magistrate said that because all four of the ballot-qualified minor parties in Michigan complied with the existing petition requirement in the past, therefore the Socialist Party is not being discriminated against. The four minor parties now on the ballot are Libertarian, Green, U.S. Taxpayers (Constitution), and Natural Law. The last time any party in Michigan successfully complied with the petition was in 2002. In 2010, the Tea Party tried to get on the Michigan ballot, but failed.

The Michigan petition says, “Petition to Form New Political Party. Warning: a person who knowingly signs petitions to organize more than one new state political party, signs a petition to organize a new state political party more than once, or signs a name other than his or her own is violating the provisions of the Michigan election law.” Erard presented evidence that this stern language deters some people from signing.

The Federal Election Commission has posted a 4-page chart that shows the date of 2014 congressional primaries, and the filing deadlines for candidates running for Congress. It isn’t easy for anyone to prepare a chart on this subject. The FEC chart is very useful, but because it squeezes the deadlines into just one column for candidates running in primaries, and then one column for “independents”, the chart is awkward for explaining minor party candidate deadlines. Thanks to Tony Roza for the link to the chart.

In Pennsylvania, all candidates need petitions to run for office. Democrats and Republicans need petitions to place themselves on primary ballots, and all other candidates need substantially more difficult petitions to get on the November ballot.

The Pennsylvania Elections Department plans a new type of petition this year. The sheets will be 8.5 inches by eleven inches, instead of legal size. That size fits on clipboards better. Also, the forms will be available on the Elections Department web page, and there will be a procedure by which a candidate can fill in the blanks for name, office being sought, etc., and then when the forms are printed, that information will be included in the printing job.

Also, after petitions have been circulated, the sheets will be posted on the Elections Department’s web page, so that challengers will be able to see them without purchasing paper copies. UPDATE: see this story about the new forms at www.PoliticsPa.com.