In 2002, a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania ruled that state law, telling circulators for district office that they cannot work outside of the district they live in, is unconstitutional. The case was Morrill v Weaver, 224 F Supp 2d 882. The state did not appeal.

Notwithstanding that, the state still is not permitting circulators to work outside their home U.S. House district, if those circulators are circulating a presidential primary delegate petition. The state is using the technicality that the 2002 court victory related to the Green Party’s petition to get various candidates on the November ballot. Of course, the decision was based on the First Amendment right of individuals to petition their government and to engage in political speech. In this context, there is no meaningful distinction between district petitions for minor party ballot access to the November election, and district petitions to the primary ballot.

Jonathan Marks, Chief of the Pennsylvania Elections Division, denied the request to let presidential primary delegate petitions be circulated outside the circulator’s home district on January 25. It is not known if any presidential candidate will sue to overturn the ruling. Pennsylvania requires presidential primary candidates to submit a statewide petition of 2,000 names, and then separate petitions of 200 signatures for delegates in each US House district.

The New Hampshire House holds a committee hearing on HB 1454 on January 29. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill for presidential elections. The bill was introduced on December 10, 2007.

The National Popular Vote Plan bill has been introduced at least one in every state legislature in the nation, except Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Ohio.

On January 9, West Virginia State Senator Clark Barnes introduced SB 49. It improves the definition of “political party”. Currently, a qualified party is one that polled 1% for its candidate for Governor in the last election.

The bill expands that to a group that polled 1% for any of its statewide state office candidates. It is always easier for a minor party to poll a relatively large vote for a less important statewide office, than an office like President, Governor, or U.S. Senator.

The bill also says a qualified party is any group that persuades 1% of all the registered voters to register into it. Senator Barnes is the Republican whip in the State Senate.

Also on January 9, Delegate Barbara Fleischauer and seven other Delegates introduced HB 3144. It lowers the petition for previously unqualified parties and independent candidates from 2% of the last vote, to 1%. It also deletes various obsolete provisions from the law that have already been declared unconstitutional. The West Virginia petition for statewide office was only 1,000 signatures until 1932. Then it was raised to 1% of the last vote cast, and in 1999 it was raised again, to 2%.