The Pennsylvania Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation is still not finished compiling the tally of write-in votes cast in the November 2010 election for federal and state office, but it says that it will soon finish. All write-ins in Pennsylvania are valid votes, because the state has no law requiring write-in candidates to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. The state generally won’t furnish a write-in tally for write-in candidates, however. It furnished one for Ralph Nader for president in November 1996, and again for Ralph Nader in November 2004. It furnished one for Constitution Party presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin in 2008, but it arbitrarily did not furnish one for Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney the same year.

All minor party and independent candidates for statewide office who tried to get on the Pennsylvania ballot in 2010 were kept off the ballot by challenges or threats of challenges, so all of them asked that their write-ins be tallied. Pennsylvania was one of only 5 states in 2010 that had statewide elections, but which had only Democrats and Republicans on the statewide ballot. The others were Alabama, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Washington.

Washington State Senator Sharon Nelson (D-West Seattle) has introduced SB 5297. It requires circulators for a ballot measure or a recall to register with the Secretary of State, if they are paid by a “signature gathering business.” Circulators must register within 72 hours after collecting their first signature. They must register separately for each petition that they circulate. They must submit a photo of themselves that shows face, neck and shoulders. They must keep this photo and a copy of their registration papers with them while they are working, and show them to anyone who asks.

Any paid circulator who “knowingly submits one invalid signature” is barred from registering again for five years. Paid circulators who don’t follow the law may be fined up to $500.

The bill only covers paid circulators who work for a “signature gathering business”, but not circulators who work directly for a candidate or a political party. “Signature gathering business” is defined as a business whose primary activity or primary source of revenue is gathering signatures for ballot measures, initiatives, or recall petitions.” Thanks to Ballot Box News for news of this bill.

On January 19, the Delaware House Administration passed HB 11, which is intended to ban fusion. However, the bill is more restrictive than that. It makes it illegal for any political party to nominate someone who is not a member of that party. The bill does exempt presidential and vice-presidential candidates, however.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U.S. 208, on page 215, “Were the State to provide that only Party members might be selected as the Party’s chosen nominees for public office, such a prohibition of potential association with nonmembers would clearly infringe upon the rights of the Party’s members under the First Amendment to organize with like-minded citizens in support of common political goals.” The sponsor of the bill, Representative Earl Jaques, says his goal is to stop any candidate’s name from being listed more than once on the ballot. It doesn’t follow logically that, therefore, he should tell parties that they can’t nominate a non-member.