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.

HR 1826, which provides for public funding for candidates for Congress, gained 5 co-sponsors in the last week, and now has 138. No other election-law bill in the House gained any co-sponsors in the last week, except for HR 3025. HR 3025, which requires states to use bipartisan redistricting commissions, gained one co-sponsor last week, and now has 27 co-sponsors.