State Senator Mike Folmer

In July of 2008 state Senator Mike Folmer introduced the “Voters’ Choice Act,” which would require all candidates for an election to garner an equal amount of nominating petition signatures for ballot access.  In the wake of all six third-party candidates for statewide offices being struck from the ballot by the powerful resources of the two majority parties, Sen. Folmer is again publicizing the need for ballot access reform.

This year’s statewide third-party candidates were required to solicit nearly 20,000 signatures, while the major party candidates needed only 10 percent as many.  Even worse was the case in 2008 when some third-party candidates needed 68,000 signatures for ballot access, while Republicans and Democrats were only required the traditional 2,000.  But since there are no third-party legislators, the bill has not come up for vote to enable more fair ballot access for the competition.

Sen. Folmer’s two-year-old bill would also require a political body to claim only 0.05 percent of registered Pennsylvania voters to be classified as a minor party for future ballot access.  State Rep. candidate Dennis Baylor has pushed for similar ballot access laws in the state’s high court, encouraging reforms not only for minor party qualification, but also for signature and ballot qualification requirements as well.  But unless constituents begin to speak out, the two-party system has more than enough resources at its disposal to keep third-party ballot access reform at bay.

For more information see “Rep. calls for fix of Pa. election rule,” from ABC 27 WHTM (8/23/10).

To read Dennis Baylor’s 2008 campaign post “Voters’ Choice Act Introduced,” click

September 24, 2008 — Current election procedure mandates that minority party candidates (those who are not Democrat or Republican) must overcome some quite insurmountable obstacles in order to have their names appear on the ballot, in comparison to majority party candidate rules. Sen. Mike Folmer (Rep.) proposed a more fair election process in July with the “Voters’ Choice Act,” which would demand that all party candidates gain the same amount of signatures to appear on the ballot, and would also make the method of qualifying a political body as a minority party more simple, requiring claim of 0.05% of registered voters in the Commonwealth.

The proposal of this act bolsters the ongoing efforts of state Senatorial candidate Dennis Baylor (Ind.) to enact an impartial election process. In June, Mr. Baylor filed suit in federal court that disputes the current practice of gathering petition votes to appear on the ballot, highlighting that our election code does not require signatures of registered voters, but of “qualified electors,” or those who are eligible to register to vote. Mr. Baylor also argues that minority party candidates should be able to establish ballot qualification before Aug. 1, as is the current practice, which can leave a campaign in limbo for months. [Baylor v Cortes, cv-08-1060]

Mr. Baylor’s lawsuit and Sen. Folmer’s proposed act arose in the wake of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s 2006 massive win. Election procedure dictates that minority party candidates need to obtain 2% of the highest vote in the previous election, forcing some statewide candidates to gather 68,000 signatures to appear on the ballot. Republican and Democrat candidates required only 2,000 signatures.
For candidates like Mr. Baylor, who do not subscribe to a majority party, Sen. Folmer’s Voters’ Choice Act would facilitate a more non-biased ballot process. In a Channel 69 WFMZ-TV broadcast, Sen. Folmer, despite being a Republican, remarks that he “just want[s] to make it easier” for minority party candidates. “It shouldn’t be that hard.” Mr. Baylor said that there should be more choice for everyone. “People need more than two proposed solutions to a lot of modern day problems.”

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