Pennsylvania election officials have revised the number of signatures needed for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, for district office. For the most part, the revisions increase the number of signatures. The revision was not posted to the state’s website until July 30, 2022. The petition deadline was August 1.

The original requirements for U.S. House, posted several months ago, were: district one 2,343; district two 1,000; district three 1,000; district four 1,748; district five 1,553; district six 1,715; district seven 1,654; district eight 1,571; district nine 2,200; district ten 1,822; district eleven 1,955; district twelve 1,419; district thirteen 2,321; district fourteen 2,277; district fifteen 2,291; district sixteen 2,138; district seventeen 1,814.

The new requirements are: one 2,338; two 1,000; three 2,300; four 2,211; five 1,901; six 1,783; seven 1,641; eight 1,563; nine 2,195; ten 1,812; eleven 1,946; twelve 1,995; thirteen 2,313; fourteen 2,272; fifteen 2,289; sixteen 2,138; seventeen 1,976.

The statewide total for the original figures is 30,821. The statewide total for the revised figures is 33,673. Fortunately the late changes do not seem to have injured any petitioning candidates. Pennsylvania always has trouble determining the number of signatures after a redistricting. It would save a great deal of work if the legislature would provide for a fixed number of signatures instead of 2% of the last winner’s vote, which is complicated when the boundaries change.

On August 19, a Florida state appeals court put Jerry Torres back on the Republican primary ballot as a candidate for U.S. House, 14th district. He had earlier been removed because Democrats challenged his declaration of candidacy. It was notarized by a Mississippi judge while Torres was in Africa. The state appeals court ruled that the challengers lack standing. See this story. Torres v Shaw, 1D22-2423. Here is the opinion.

The Florida primary is August 23. Technically, the lower court had ruled that votes for Torres should not be counted. It had been too late to remove him from the ballot, because the ballots are already printed.

Still pending is a case on whether Rebekah Jones should be on the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. House, District One.

On August 19, the Secretary of State of Georgia informed the Eleventh Circuit that he wishes to withdraw his request to reinstate Public Service Commissioner elections for the November 2022 ballot. The Eleventh Circuit approved his request. Therefore, the two races for Public Service Commission won’t be on the November 2022 ballot, even though the state already let the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate for this office in their 2022 primaries, and even though the Libertarian Party nominating convention had also nominated someone for one race.

The incumbent Commissioners will now serve additional time, even though their terms had been expiring.

The case is still alive, and future proceedings will determine whether the at-large elections violate the federal Voting Rights Act. But it seems likely that the U.S. District Court will rule in favor of district elections.

This event highlights the irrationality of the Georgia ballot access law relating to minor parties. When the office was elected statewide, the Libertarian Party was allowed to have its nominees on the November ballot with no petition. But assuming that in the future, this office will be elected on a district basis, any Libertarian who wants to run (or the nominee of any other third party) will need about 70,000 signatures. Yet the duties of the office have not changed. Perhaps this ludicrous aspect of Georgia ballot access law can be mentioned in the U.S. Supreme Court pleadings in Cowen v Rafflesperger, the Libertarian pending ballot access case. 22-101.