On May 21, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner released a regulation on how new and minor parties should get on the ballot. This action is needed because the old law was declared unconstitutional last year, and the legislature seems disinclined to pass a new law. The regulation requires a petition signed by one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, due November 26, 2007.

The old, unconstitutional law would have required a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, due in early November. The old law would have required 40,228 signatures; the directive requires 20,114.

The regulation also says that a party that only wants to run candidates for presidential elector, president and vice-president, needs 20,114 signatures by August 18, 2008. Using this type of petition permits the party label. The old “independent” petition requirement of 5,000 would still exist, but the only labels permitted are “no-party candidate” and “other-party candidate.”

New Jersey has all its legislative elections in odd years. This year, the Libertarian Party has 22 candidates for the legislature; the Green Party has 10; the Conservative Party has 2. The petition deadline for each of these candidates is in early June. Since each candidate needs 100 signatures, it is likely that all, or almost all, will succeed in getting on the ballot. Two years ago the Libertarians had 7, the Greens had 6, and the Conservative Party had one.

The lawsuit filed by the three parties mentioned above may perhaps be settled successfully in June 2007. That lawsuit covers a multitude of election law issues. They include the ability of circulators to petition outside their home districts; campaign finance laws that discriminate against unqualified parties relative to qualified parties; and the state’s failure to draft a regulation on how an unqualified party becomes entitled to a registration tally.

The Socialist Party, which is not part of the lawsuit, has one candidate for the legislature this year. In 2005 it had three.

Jerome Corsi recently joined the Constitution Party and says he is mulling over seeking its presidential nomination. He is the author of over 15 books, and has a Doctorate in Political Science from Harvard. He spoke to the Maine Constitution Party state convention on May 18 in Portland. He is probably best known for being the co-author of Unfit for Command, a criticism of Senator John Kerry. He has also co-authored a book with Jim Gilchrist called Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders, and a book co-authored with former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell called Rebuilding America. Although in 2005 he said he wanted to run against Senator John Kerry in Massachusetts in 2008, he has since moved to New Jersey.