Green Party Bounced from Pennsylvania Senate Ballot

Carl Romanelli was to have been on the Pennsylvania state ballot as the Green Party candidate running for the US Senate seat held by Republican Rick Santorum. Commonwealth Court Judge James R. Kelley has ruled that the Greens didn’t get enough signatures to put Mr. Romanelli on the ballot. This boosts the Democrats’ candidate, state Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. in a race that is his to lose.

Ballot access in some parts of America belie the notion that the country is a democracy. Unless one is a Democrat or Republican, there is usually a second-class citizen route one must take to secure a line on the ballot. Some states allow a candidate to collect a few hundred signatures to qualify, while others set standards that are simply designed to keep the duopoly of Democratic-Republican power in place. Pennsylvania is in the latter category.

According to the Washington Post, in Pennsylvania, “[s]tate law requires minor-party and independent candidates to collect a number of signatures equal to 2 percent of the ballots cast for the largest vote-getter in the last statewide election. This year’s requirement was unusually high because it was based on Casey’s record vote count in winning the treasurer's office in 2004.” All non-Democrat-Republicans needed 67,070 signatures to secure a place. Judge Kelley bounced Mr. Romanelli off as being 8,931 short. Apparently, 58,000 backers isn’t good enough for the voters of Pennsylvania.

Although Mr. Romanelli will appeal, his likely omission from the ballot can only boost Mr. Casey’s prospects. There is a faction in the Democratic electoral base that likes voting Green to remind the bigger, older party that is should have some principles sometimes. These folks now have no Green option. That’s good for a couple of percentage points in Mr. Casey’s final total.

Mr. Casey leads in most opinion polls, and the Democratic National Committee has targeted the seat for extra funding and attention. Mr. Santorum, who is probably not as nasty a fellow as his detractors maintain (no one is), may want to think about life after the Senate. The Quinnipiac University Poll that came out the same day Mr. Romanelli lost his case in court has Mr. Casey winning 54% to 40% -- not even the undecideds could save the sitting senator. His only hope is to split that 54%, and without Mr. Romanelli on the ballot, that just got a lot harder.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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