The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia on Wednesday upheld a state election code provision requiring Green Party and other minor-party candidates to obtain 67,070 valid voter signatures to get on this year's ballot.
Yesterday, Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins upheld state officials' calculation of the number of signatures minor-party candidates need to run for statewide office.
Romanelli's lawyer said Wednesday he would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review Wednesday's ruling. And Romanelli said yesterday that his lawyers would appeal Colins' decision to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In addition, Romanelli said his attorneys would be back before Colins next week on a motion to quash the Democratic Party challenges on the grounds that they lack specificity.
Romanelli, who collected approximately 94,000 signatures, said he had no doubt that he will meet the criteria for appearing on the ballot and defeat "this exercise in disenfranchisement."
His major concern, he said, is that it could take many more weeks to fully and finally resolve the matter, and that would divert him from campaigning and taking part in campaign debates.
"One thing we will not do is withdraw. One thing we will not do is be silenced," said Romanelli, a former Luzerne County Family Court officer who opposes the Iraq war and, contrary to Casey and Santorum, favors abortion rights.
"Of course I think it's an act of obstruction," Romanelli said of the Democratic Party challenge. "I suppose I should be somewhat thankful. Their dirty tricks have made my candidacy much bigger than it would have been if Bob Casey had been more fair-minded about this."
Contact staff writer Marc Schogol at 610-313-8112 or mschogol@phillynews.com.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
