See this story for the melodramatic story of how a Pennsylvania Democrat who tried to run for the state legislature this year was knocked off the ballot before anyone even checked to see if her petition is valid. The reporter says she “only” needed 300 signatures, implying that the requirement is easy. It is not easy. The typical State House district in Pennsylvania has approximately 20,000 registered Democrats, and they are the only voters eligible to sign. Furthermore, no one can circulate a primary petition in Pennsylvania if the circulator doesn’t live in the district.

Before 1985, candidates for State House needed 100 signatures to get on the ballot in a primary. The 1985 session of the legislature tripled the legislative requirement and increased the statewide petition by a factor of ten, from 200 to 2,000 signatures. Pennsylvania is also the only state that still has a county distribution requirement for statewide petitions, even though such county distribution requirements were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969. The Pennsylvania state courts repeatedly uphold ballot access restrictions that have been struck down in federal courts. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

It is possible that three presidential candidates, all of whom are seeking a minor party presidential nomination, will qualify for primary season matching funds this year. Buddy Roemer, who is seeking the Americans Elect nomination, was certified for primary season matching funds on February 2, 2012. Gary Johnson is seeking them and his campaign says so far he has raised the needed $5,000 in fourteen states. Twenty states are needed to satisfy the legal requirements. Jill Stein is seeking the funds and her campaign says so far she has raised the needed $5,000 in three states.

The primary season matching funds program has existed starting in 1976, and there has never been a presidential election in which three minor party presidential candidates received matching funds. The funds must be raised before the candidate has been nominated for President. Johnson must meet the qualifications before the Libertarian convention in early May, and Stein must meet them before the Green convention in mid-July. The money may be used for general election petitioning.

Two candidates have filed for U.S. Senate in the Montana Libertarian primary. Montana requires parties with ongoing ballot status to nominate by primary, but does not actually print up primary ballots unless there is a contest. See this story, which says that Montana hasn’t printed up primary ballots for any qualified party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, since 1996, when the Reform Party had a contested primary. The story also says the Secretary of State will try to avoid a Libertarian primary and is considering listing both candidates on the November ballot.

The odd part of this story is that neither the Secretary of State, nor the legislator who is quoted in the story, seems to have thought that a good solution would be to let small qualified parties nominate by convention. The Libertarian Party has candidates for a majority of the statewide offices in Montana this year, but only in the U.S. Senate race is there more than a single candidate from that party. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.