« Weekend Canvassing in Schrader's Back Yard with DFA & ACT | Main | AZ: First Traditional Post-Convention State Poll »
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Nader on the PA ballot
Posted by FesterI had previously stated that I thought it would be unlikely for Nader to get on the Pennsylvania ballot. I am most likely wrong about that prediction. Yesterday was the deadline for the Nader campaign to submit slightly more than 25,000 valid signatures. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette is reporting that the two Nader ballot access coordinators submitted a bit more than 50,000 signatures. Given that the Liberterian Party and the Constitution Party each submitted roughly 35,000 signatures (to account for the throw-outs), it is extremely likely that Nader will receive enough certified signatures to qualify.
Crossposted at Fester's Place.
Posted at 02:57 PM in Pennsylvania | Technorati
Comments
Oh Super. Right little bit of sunshine aren't we. I wonder if Tony Soprano votes Democrat...
Posted by: Michael at August 3, 2004 03:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Won't matter, Kerry wins PA. Nader isn't a factor.
Posted by: Rock_nj at August 3, 2004 03:21 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Kerry is kicking a lot of ass in PA right now, a state where Nader did poorly in 2000. Shouldn't be a factor.
Posted by: Chris Bowers at August 3, 2004 04:07 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Chris,
I agree, if Nader tips Pennsylvania into a Bush win, it won't matter anyways because Kerry will have been lucky to have won 200 electoral votes by that point. However, I think it is useful to keep track of where he is getting on the ballot so appropriate counterstrategy can be performed. Also, in a previous SSP post, I said I would follow up on Nader.
Posted by: fester at August 3, 2004 05:09 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Pennsylvania will stay in the blue column, I don't care how many other candidates on their ballot! We don't need to sweat the Key Stone State!
Posted by: Pepe at August 4, 2004 09:01 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Not too worried about this; Nader didn't do well in PA in 2000. In fact it might give a tiny boost to Joe Hoeffel, Dem. candidate for Senate by bringing out leftist voters who wouldn't come out for Kerry, who will vote Dem down the ticket.
http://www.hoeffelforsenate.com
Posted by: Lauren at August 8, 2004 09:34 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I spent a couple days this week reviewing Philadelphia County Nader petitions, and I think there's a good chance we'll get him off the ballot. 60% or so of his signatures came from Philadelphia, and most were on petitions circulated by homeless guys paid $0.75-1.00/sig. (In fact, the Nader folks didn't pay a lot of people, but that's another story.) The result: Massive numbers of signatures with the date or city added by a non-signer; massive numbers of signatures from outside Philly or from people who are just not registered to vote; several petition sheets that were apparently filled out fraudulently by 1-5 people with a phone book at a shelter; plenty of illegibles; and a few people whose names come up again and again. Add in some of the usual technical defects, like the people who signed slightly differently on the petition than on their voter registration (missing middle initial, for example), and we can eliminate a good 80-90% of the petitions we have time to check at the computers in the voter registration division. About 40-50% of signatures can be eliminated just from a visual scan, which I know we had time to do on all petitions. Now, I don't know if we had time to computer-check all petitions by the end of today, I don't know how things look in the rest of Pennsylvania, I don't know how much the judge will agree with us on, and I don't know whether Nader even has the resources to defend his signatures in court here, but I'd lay money down on even odds that Nader'll be off the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Posted by: Ben Schak at August 8, 2004 09:37 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Will the Democrats who think there should be no other voters interfering with their "democratic" voting process, please kindly back off? Gore lost the last election in 2000; so get on with it. This democratic republic was set up so ANY American citizen can vote the way he/she pleases; it never said there should just be two political parties. Kindly allow those who wish to remain independent our rights to vote for whomever we please.
Posted by: Vince Clancy at August 11, 2004 08:07 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment