Op-Ed Suggests Political Parties Should Pay for their Own Presidential Primaries

As courts continue to support the idea that political parties may run their nominations process as they see fit (even when that conflicts with state law), more observers are starting to question why taxpayers pay for party primaries, especially presidential primaries. Here is another such commentary from Laurence Reisman. He writes for a series of newspapers in Florida’s Treasure Coast (the area north of Palm Beach).

Pennsylvania 2008 Statewide Petition Requirement is 24,666

The number of signatures for statewide minor party and independent candidates in Pennsylvania this year is 24,666. The exact number could not be known until the Pennsylvania November 2007 election returns had been completely tallied.

The 24,666 is somewhat better than the 2004 requirement, which was 25,697. However, the 2000 requirement had been even lower, 21,739.