According to John A. Murphy, a Nader supporter and a vigorous and passionate fighter for ballot access reform in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s State Committee has decided to support SB 252, the ballot access reform bill.  Murphy’s source is a close friend who is on that Committee.  The Committee will meet on September 24-25 and is expected to endorse the bill.  Ballot access activists are welcome to attend the meeting.

SB 252 is based on Delaware’s law.  It says that a group that has registration membership of at least one-twentieth of 1% is considered a qualified minor party, and is entitled to nominate by convention.  If the bill were law currently, the Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties would be ballot-qualified.  The bill also substantially lowers the number of signatures needed for independent candidates.

Florida held its primaries on August 24.  Brian Moore, who was the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in 2008, was on the Democratic ballot as a candidate for Governor.  In a two-person race, he received 23.1% of the vote.  Not all votes have been counted yet, but already he is credited with 200,000 votes.  See this story.

A Florida state court will hold a hearing on August 30 in Morton v Crist, the case over whether people who contributed money to Governor Charlie Crist when he was a Republican may demand refunds.  See this story.