The Washington state legislature adjourns for the year on March 11. The Secretary of State’s clean-up bill to fix legal problems with the top-two primary, SB 5681, would have revised the definition of a qualified political party, but that bill has already missed legislative deadlines and cannot pass this year.

Existing law says a qualified party is one that polled 5% for any statewide race in the last election. The test applies every two years, although it doesn’t apply in years in which there are no statewide races on the ballot. In 2010, a U.S. Senate race is on the ballot. The incumbent is Patty Murray, a Democrat, who is running for re-election.

Because parties no longer have nominees for any federal or state office (except they still have presidential nominees), no party’s nominee will poll at least 5% of the vote in 2010. Therefore, all parties will cease to be ballot-qualified. SB 5681 would have solved this problem by saying that parties that poll at least 1% for President are ballot-qualified for the next four years. But the bill can’t pass this year. The legislature declined to pass it this year because legislators want to see the outcome of the pending federal lawsuit that argues that the top-two system violates the U.S. Constitution. A trial in that case is set for October 2010.

On February 28, the Coalition for Free and Open Elections (COFOE) held its annual board meeting, in New York city. COFOE is a coalition of most of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, as well as certain other organizations that support their right to be on the ballot. COFOE was formed in 1985.

The board voted to spend $2,000 on a cert petition for the Alabama ballot access lawsuit, Shugart v Chapman. The issue is whether Alabama may require an independent candidate for U.S. House to submit more signatures that are required for an independent presidential candidate. Alabama has six U.S. House districts.

The 11th circuit had upheld the Alabama law on February 10, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled that states cannot require more signatures for an independent candidate in just part of the state, than for a statewide office. The 11th circuit did not even mention Norman v Reed, one of those two U.S. Supreme Court precedents. Also, Norman v Reed said that when states have such laws, those laws are discriminatory, and can only be upheld if they are necessary for a compelling state interest. The 11th circuit did not apply strict scrutiny.

The Pennsylvania Green Party held a state nominating convention February 20-21 near Pittsburgh, and nominated a candidate for U.S. Senate, one for U.S. House, and four state house candidates. The party will attempt to place all its nominees on the 2010 ballot.

The U.S. Senate candidate, Mel Packer, needs 19,056 valid signatures, due August 2. The petition may not circulate until March 10. If the Green Party statewide petition succeeds, this will be the first time the party has appeared on the statewide ballot in Pennsylvania since 2004. The U.S. House candidate, Ed Bortz, is running in the 14th district, in Pittsburgh. The state house candidates are Roy Farrington in the 76th district, Jay Sweeney in the 111st, Rex D’Agostino in the 183rd, and Hugh Giordano in the 194th.