Wayne Allyn Root will formally announce his candidacy for the Libertarian presidential nomination on May 4 at 10 a.m. eastern time (7 a.m. Pacific time). At that time he is also expected to talk more about his upcoming book and his upcoming reality TV show, which will feature his adventures seeking the nomination.

Pennsylvania holds partisan local elections this year, and holds primaries for those elections on May 15. Lackawanna County Commissioner Robert Cordaro, a Republican, was recently removed from the primary ballot for failing to file a complete financial interest statement. He is running as a write-in. Since Republican voters are permitted to nominate two candidates for that post, and since only one Republican is on the ballot, Cordaro is likely to re-nominated by write-in votes. There is another write-in candidate in the race as well. One of Cordaro’s political opponents has filed a new lawsuit, arguing that even if the voters to re-nominate him, he cannot be the Republican nominee, although few neutral observers expect that lawsuit to accomplish anything.

Lackawanna County Elections officials have ordered 1,200 rolls of sales receipt-like paper. When a voter casts a write-in, the machine prints 4 copies. Each roll is 86 feet long, so the combined total of paper is almost 20 miles.

Pennsylvania is one of the very few states in which all write-ins are valid. Pennsylvania has no requirement that a write-in candidate file a declaration of candidacy. Pennsylvania elections officials in some counties routinely break the law and don’t tally write-ins.

On May 2, the Connecticut Senate passed SB 1184. It moves the presidential primary from March to February 5. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.