Important Filing Information
2024 Nomination Paper Mandamus and Objections Tracker
Click here to view the Commonwealth Court's July 19, 2023 Notice and Order Regarding Objections to Nomination Petitions/Papers of Candidates for Statewide and State-Level Office, which governs, among other things, the filing and service of Objection Petitions. Click here to view the downloadable version of the spreadsheet that the Court requires to be filed with Objection Petitions that challenge individual elector signatures.
2024 Nomination Paper Signature Requirements
If you have any questions concerning these instructions, please email ra-elections@pa.gov or call 1-877-868-3772, option 3.
Frequently Asked Questions for Presidential Candidate of Minor Political Parties and Political Bodies
Presidential candidates from a minor political party or political body (and the candidates they have nominated for presidential elector) must file nomination papers to appear on the 2024 Presidential Election ballot. For purposes of the 2024 Presidential Election, this would be Presidential candidates who were not nominated by the Democratic or Republican party.
The terms “minor political party" and “political body" are defined in the Pennsylvania Election Code. For the 2024 Presidential Election, the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties have qualified statewide as political parties, with the Libertarian Party qualifying statewide as a minor political party. All other parties and independent candidates are considered political bodies.
A minor political party must authorize a candidate to file nomination papers with the Department of State. Candidates seeking to appear on the ballot for a of a minor political party should contact the minor political party before filing nomination papers.
August 1 is the deadline to file nomination papers with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Consent Decree, Libertarian Party v. Davis, No. 84-26 (E.D. Pa. June 13, 1984) (establishing August 1 deadline annually).
The Secretary of the Commonwealth will accept nomination papers for presidential candidates which contain 5,000 signatures. See Constitution Party of Pa. v. Cortés, No. 12-2726 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 1, 2018).
Candidates should be aware that the Election Code provides a formula for calculating the number of signatures required for nomination papers, which, for purposes of the 2024 Presidential Election, is 33,043. See 25 P.S. § 2911(b). As a result of the Cortes litigation, the Secretary is not enforcing this requirement. However, a voter or other interested party could file an objection to a candidate whose nomination papers contain only 5,000 signatures, which the state judiciary would need to resolve.
Yes, minor political party and political body candidates for the office of presidential elector must file candidates' affidavits by the August 1 filing deadline. 25 P.S. §§ 2911(e), 2913(a).
Vacancies arising from death or withdrawal can be filled by the same presidential candidate who originally nominated the elector. 25 P.S. § 2878. The Election Code requires that substitutions for withdrawals be made at least 75 days before Election Day, while substitutions for an elector candidate who has died can be made up until ballots are printed. 25 P.S. § 2941. Electors who withdraw or are absent can also be replaced by the remaining electors present on the day the Electoral College meets. 25 P.S. § 3193.
A presidential candidate must nominate 19 individuals to serve as candidates for the office of presidential elector.
No, but any person who is a registered and enrolled member of the Democratic, Republican, or Libertarian party during any period of time beginning thirty (30) days before the primary and extending through the general or municipal election of that same year is ineligible to be a candidate for presidential elector of a political body in a general or municipal election held in that same year. 25 P.S. § 2911(e).