On February 21, New York Assembly bill 204, the “ballot-friendly act”, was placed on third reading in the Assembly. It had passed the Assembly Election Law Committee on February 12. It requires that the names of candidates be in type that is no smaller than Font size 12 (one-sixth of one inch). It also says the names of all candidates for the same office shall appear in the same column or row, unless no alternative is possible.

In the special election for U.S. House, 9th district, held September 13, 2011, there were only three candidates on the ballot: the Democratic-Working Families-Independence nominee David Weprin, the Republican-Conservative nominee Bob Turner, and the Socialist Workers nominee, Christopher Hoeppner. The ballot listed Weprin, Turner, and the write-in line on the upper line. But it put Hoeppner on a lower line, all by himself. As a result most voters probably didn’t even notice Hoeppner’s name, and he polled only 143 votes (.2%). A204, if it had been in effect, would have not allowed this ballot format.

The Pennsylvania Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties have all decided to appeal the March 7 decision of a U.S. District Court that they don’t have standing to sue over the Pennsylvania challenge system, which leaves any statewide independent candidate, or any statewide petitioning party, in jeopardy of over $100,000 if they submit a petition that has fewer valid signatures than are required.

In other Pennsylvania news, two activists from the Constitution Party will soon visit Harrisburg this week to examine the official election returns sent in by each county. They will examine the returns so that the number of write-ins for various presidential candidates who weren’t on the ballot can be known to history. Most of the counties count the write-ins and record them, but the state won’t tally them up this year, even though it did so for a few presidential write-in candidates in 2008.

On March 21, the Working Families Party of South Carolina held a convention and nominated Elizabeth Colbert Busch (sister of Stephen Colbert) for the special U.S. House election, First District, that will be held May 7. Busch is also the Democratic Party nominee, but voters can choose which label to use if they vote for her. The Green Party nominee is Eugene Platt. Republicans haven’t yet chosen their nominee, but it will either be Mark Sanford or Curtis Bostic.