Politics & Government
Libertarian Party Will Appear on Pa. Ballots
Judge's ruling ends state GOP's challenge.
Pennsylvania voters will have at least four choices when making their choice for President of the United States in next month's general election.
The Associated Press reports that Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's nominee for President, will appear on the ballot after Commonwealth Court Senior Judge James Gardner Collins ended a state GOP effort to individually validate each of the 20,601 signatures the party needed to collect to meet the state's ballot requirements.
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Mike Barley, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, told the AP that the Libertarian Party had submitted more than 50,000 signatures and that more than half of them had been invalid.
Neither Democratic nor Republican candidates are required to collect signatures in order to appear on the ballot.
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As a result of Collins's ruling, the Libertarian Party will also field candidates for the U.S. Senate, for state attorney general, and for state auditor general.
State elections officials in August approved the Green Party's presidential ticket, led by former Ma. gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein. State Democratic officials had successfully fought to keep the Green Party off the Pennsylvania presidential ballot in 2004 and 2008, but did not challenge their petition this year.
Another minor party, the Constitution Party, abandoned its effort to get on the Pa. ballot in August in the face of similar opposition from the state GOP.
