On January 25, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, by a 4-3 vote, said the new redistricting plan for both houses of the state legislature is unlawful. The order is only two pages, and does not say what is wrong with the plan, but says an explanation will follow. The Court also ordered that the old district lines be in place until a new plan is approved. Finally, the Court extended the petition deadline for candidates running in Pennsylvania primaries by two days, from February 14 to February 16.

The dissent is only one page. The legislative redistricting plan that was invalidated was created by the Pennsylvania Reapportionment Commission, which consists of the State Senate Majority Leader, the State Senate Minority Leader, the State House Majority Leader, the State House Minority Leader, and a fifth member who is chosen by the other four. However, when the other four can’t agree, then the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appoints the fifth member. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has had to appoint the fifth member in 2011, 2001, and 1991.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is itself elected on a partisan basis, and has four Republicans and three Democrats. Generally, Democratic Party activists didn’t like the plan, and Republicans did. All three Democratic justices, and one Republican justice, voted against the redistricting plan. The other three Republican justices dissented. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news. Professor Hasen asks how long it will be before a voter files a lawsuit in federal court, saying the 2001 redistricting plan can’t be used because the districts aren’t equal in population, since they are based on the 2000 census, not the 2010 census.

On January 25, a state court judge in Wisconsin granted state elections officials 61 days to check the recall petitions for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The two offices, although elected jointly, required separate petitions for the recall drive. See this story.

The Maine petition to put Americans Elect on the 2012 ballot has enough valid signatures, according to the Secretary of State. This is probably the 2nd toughest petition drive that Americans Elect has completed so far. The number of signatures is very large, and no one can sign unless he or she is a registered voter but not a registered member of any of the three qualified parties. The requirement is 28,639 signatures, 5% of the 2010 gubernatorial vote total. Because the deadline is so early, the signatures had to be gathered in the autumn and early part of the winter.

The only other party that ever completed this Maine party petition was the Reform Party, in 1995.

Americans Elect won’t be ballot-qualified in Maine, despite this petition success, until it holds a town caucus in at least 14 of the 16 counties. UPDATE: Americans Elect needs a town caucus in all 16 counties. Although the law was changed in 2011 to reduce the number of counties, the law only affects parties that were already on the ballot in the preceding election, an obvious equal protection violation.