Because of last week’s ruling from the Maryland highest state court, the rules for petition validity are now much more onerous. The Libertarian and Green Parties have been removed from the 2012 ballot because of the ruling, but they have time to get more signatures. The Libertarian Party needs another 2,734 valid signatures, and the Green Party needs another 3,020 signatures.

The effect of the court’s ruling last week has discouraged the Constitution Party, which is now unlikely to even attempt to petition in Maryland this year. The Americans Elect petition submitted this year has enough valid signatures even under the new, super-fussy requirements. The court’s decision invalidates all signatures that don’t perfectly match the style of the voter’s name on the voter registration card. Middle initials, nicknames, shortened forms of first names, all must match.

Some individuals who have been working within Americans Elect have formed a group to reverse the recent decision of the Americans Elect board not to run a presidential nominee in 2012. See this story. Thanks to Steve Urbano for the link.

This Green Party Watch article sets out the delegate counts for president, for the Green Party. The national convention is July 13-15 in Baltimore. The article documents that Dr. Jill Stein has a considerable lead over Roseanne Barr, but Barr has the potential of gaining on her.