MD: Libertarian and Green Parties Fight for Recognition

From The Republic:

The Maryland State Board of Elections will take another look at signatures that were deemed invalid in a drive by the Libertarian Party and Green Party to have their candidates recognized on state ballots, an attorney for the board said Friday.

The parties' candidates for governor failed to get 1 percent of the vote last November. That meant both needed to submit 10,000 signatures of registered voters in order to be recognized as political parties on future Maryland ballots. Late last month, the board notified the parties that they were thousands of signatures short, after close to 9,000 from each were invalidated.

The signature count has been complicated by a ruling issued by the state's highest court about two weeks after the board began its signature count. The Court of Appeals ruled March 22 that illegible handwriting could not be a reason to disqualify a signature.