On September 5, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in Philadelphia held a trial on whether there is anything deficient with the paperwork that names Bob Barr as the Libertarian presidential nominee in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania law authorizes substitution. The Libertarian Party started circulating its statewide petition in February 2008, before the party had chosen its national nominee. After the petition was submitted, paperwork was submitted showing that the stand-in, Rochelle Etzel, had withdrawn, and that Bob Barr is the substitution committee’s choice to replace her.

The objectors had claimed that it was wrong for the party to continue circulating the petition (with the stand-in’s name on it) in the months after the Libertarian national convention. Bob Barr’s attorney put on witnesses to establish that the party simply followed normal procedure in Pennsylvania for presidential petitions, and that the same thing was done in the three previous presidential elections, not only for the Libertarians, but for other minor parties as well.

The Independent Green Party of Virginia, which is not a qualified party, circulated a petition for president earlier this year naming Michael Bloomberg for president and Ron Paul for vice-president. Virginia permits substitution. Late in August, Ron Paul asked the party to remove his name, and on September 4, Michael Bloomberg also asked the party to remove his name. September 5 is the deadline for the party to tell the Virginia Board of Elections which candidates to list. It is likely that the party will choose Chuck Baldwin for president and Darrell Castle for vice-president. These are the Constitution Party national nominees.

On September 5, the Delaware Chancery Court in Sussex County ruled that the Independent Party of Delaware’s nominating convention this year was conducted properly. An activist of that party who was not happy about the party’s choice of a gubernatorial nominee had sued the party, arguing that its nominating procedures this year were unlawful. Allen v Independent Party of Delaware, 3951-cc.

The court ruled that a qualified minor party in Delaware is free to have bylaws that let the party’s board choose the party nominees. If the case had gone the other way, Ralph Nader’s ballot position in Delaware would have been jeopardized, since the same procedure used by the Independent Party of Delaware to nominate its candidate for Governor had been used to nominate Nader for president. Thanks to David Finger for this news.