Alabama elects its state judges in partisan elections. This year, five seats on the Alabama Supreme Court are open. Only one Democrat is running for any of the five numbered seats. Because ballot access is so difficult, no minor parties are on the ballot, and the petition deadline for new parties was March 13. Unless the pending ballot access lawsuit filed by the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties wins, Alabama voters will have only one candidate on the November ballot for four of the statewide partisan judicial races.

Roy Moore appears to have won the Republican primary for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, with no need for a runoff primary. This was a surprise, because he had been outspent by his two Republican opponents. He had been Chief Justice previously, but had been impeached in 2003 because he refused to obey a federal court order to remove a massive monument to the Ten Commandments. He had then flirted with the idea of seeking the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination, but never did so. See this story about Moore. It was written before the primary. Moore has promised in this campaign that he will not seek to restore the Ten Commandments monument in the State Supreme Court building. See this story about Moore’s victory in the primary.

Utah state elections officials say the Green Party petition has enough valid signatures. Utah now has seven qualified parties: Democratic, Republican, Americans Elect, Constitution, Green, Justice, and Libertarian.

The Philadelphia Weekly has this comprehensive story about Pennsylvania ballot access. The story is especially detailed on the problem that in Pennsylvania, alone among the states, candidates whose petitions are challenged must pay as much as $100,000 if their petition is found to lack enough valid signatures.

The story couldn’t include every problem in Pennsylvania, and does not mention that in 1986, the legislature provided that only parties with registration membership of 15% of the statewide total are actually ballot-qualified. If the Pennsylvania law existed in every state, the Democratic Party would not be on the Utah ballot, and the Republican Party would not be in the ballot in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or the District of Columbia. Also the story does not mention the problem that some counties refuse to tally write-in votes.