On April 11, the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties of Pennsylvania filed an appeal in the 3rd circuit in Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 13-1952. The U.S. District Court had ruled that none of the parties has standing to challenge the unique Pennsylvania petition challenge system, and so no decision on the substance of the case has yet been released. If the 3rd circuit agrees with the political parties that they do have standing, it will remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision on the merits.

In the meantime, a hard-working group of Pennsylvania volunteers from all the parties are working on an analysis of the 2012 statewide Constitution Party petition. The Constitution Party had withdrawn its statewide petition rather than face the prospect of court costs of as much as $110,000. The volunteers are checking each of the signatures to determine whether, in fact, the petition may have had enough valid signatures.

On April 15, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party asked a U.S. District Court in Arizona to reconsider the decision of last month that upheld Arizona voter registration forms. Arizona law provides all qualified parties with their own mandatory primary. But the voter registration form only gives a checkbox to the two largest parties in the state. There has never been any other state that regularly prints up primary ballots for all qualified parties, and yet lists only two of them on the voter registration form.

On April 15, the Montana House Administration Committee heard testimony on SB 408, and passed it. This is the bill to ask the voters in 2014 if they want to establish a top-two primary. The bill passed 12-7, on a party line vote, with all Republicans voting “Yes” and all Democrats voting “No.” The state chair of the Republican Party testified in favor of the bill.