Hawaii has a very unusual law for determining how a party remains on the ballot. If the party has been on for 3 elections in a row, then it is automatically qualified for the next 5 elections. But after the “free” 5 elections are up (unless it had polled 10% for a statewide office or either US House seat, or 4% for half the races in either house of the legislature, or 2% for half of the legislative races in both houses), then it goes off the ballot.

The Green Party’s 5 “free” elections are up, so the party must submit 663 signatures to re-qualify for 2008. If the party doesn’t meet the vote test in 2008 or 2010, it will probably need similar petitions in 2010 and 2012. Then it will again qualify automatically for 2014 through 2022.

Back on August 23, 2006, the 3rd circuit ruled adversely in the Pennsylvania ballot access lawsuit Rogers v Corbett. The issue was whether the state could force qualified parties to submit petitions for their nominees, even though those parties had fulfilled the 2% vote test at the previous election and therefore met the Pennsylvania definition of “political party”. Parties affected were the Green, Libertarian and Constitution Parties, all of which had met that statewide vote test in November 2004, and yet all of whom were being kept off the November 2006 ballot unless they submitted 67,070 signatures.

The parties asked for a rehearing, and that rehearing request is still pending, as of February 23. Generally, rehearing requests are rejected within a month or two after the initial decision, so there is some reason for optimism that the case will win a rehearing from the full 3rd circuit. Only full-time judges can vote on whether to grant a rehearing. The original decision was before one fulltime judge and two part-time judges, but those part-time judges have no vote on whether to grant the rehearing. The 3rd circuit has 10 full-time judges.

On February 22, the Kansas Senate unanimously passed SB 320, which gives the Secretary of State authority to set the presidential primary date whenever he wishes. The expectation is that the Secretary of State would use this authority (assuming the bill is signed into law) to set a February date in 2008.