by ELIZABETH FATTAH
CARTOON/John Jonik. The recent events in Pennsylvania show once again that the deck is stacked against third party or Independent candidates. The state law in Pennsylvania requires a Republican or Democrat to obtain 2,000 petition signatures for a statewide race. Candidates not affiliated with either major party must obtain a number of signatures equal to 2 percent of the highest vote total from the most recent statewide election. In 2010 that number was more than 19,000 signatures. These signatures must be registered voters in Pennsylvania.
The Green Party US Senate candidate Mel Packer turned in over 20,000 signatures, but this was not enough. Joe Sestak, Democratic Party’s Senate candidate, had his people analyze 700 signatures and found them to be questionable. This can easily happen since people sign who think they are registered but are not, their addresses have changed since they registered, or they signed on the wrong line, etc, etc.
If Packer had decided to challenge their findings and he lost, he would have had to pay the Democrats’ cost of hiring handwriting experts, lawyers and others who had analyzed the signatures. According to Packer, this would have been a prohibitive cost that neither he nor the Green Party could afford. Mel Packer will not be on the ballot in Pennsylvania as the Green Party candidate for the US Senate.
Green Politics for more