The Constitution Party desperately needs petitioners...We seem to have a shortage this year compared to past years. Our most urgent immediate need, other than perhaps Illinois, is in West Virginia. We have a chance to get on the ballot for the first time in West Virginia but the campaign has slowed down due to a lack of people willing to petition...even for pay.

Pennsylvania is well underway now, after a bit of a sketchy start, but we more need in state volunteers.

Please let us know if you are willing to petition in West Virginia or anywhere else. Anyone interested in petitioning is encouraged to call our national office (717) 390-1993. That number especially goes for anyone wanting to petition in Pennsylvania.

There will soon be possible petitioning opportunities in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Hamphire, Maine, Alabama, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Ballot Access has almost nothing to do with the popularity of the party in anyone state. It usually has everything to to with the capacity of the party to put people in the field to get the job done.

Pennsylvania is well underway now, after a bit of a sketchy start, but we more need in state volunteers.

The Constitution Party of Pennsylvania has sued the state's chief elections official, claiming the party's presidential and vice presidential candidates are unfairly being denied spots on the November ballot.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Harrisburg federal court against Secretary of State Pedro Cortes seeks an injunction to include presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin and vice presidential nominee Darrell R. Castle on the ballot.

The lawsuit said the party submitted nearly 22,000 signatures to the Department of State by the Aug. 1 deadline, a couple thousand fewer than required to qualify for the ballot. Last week, the party attempted to submit about 8,000 more signatures, but the Department of State would not accept them, according to Jim Clymer, a Lancaster lawyer who represents the plaintiffs.

Clymer said a recent decision in Ohio bolsters his argument that the Aug. 1 deadline for third-party candidates is overly burdensome and violates constitutional protections. Under the U.S. Constitution, the Legislature, not the secretary of state, is supposed to set such deadlines, he said.

Department of State spokesman Leslie Amoros said the lawsuit was being reviewed. She had no comment about its merits.

Besides Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, the other presidential hopefuls on the Pennsylvania ballot are Libertarian Bob Barr and independent candidate Ralph Nader. A court challenge to Barr's ballot status is scheduled for Thursday in Philadelphia.

Baldwin, a Floridian, and Castle, a resident of Tennessee, were named the Constitution Party's nominees in April.

Clymer was a Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004 and for lieutenant governor in 1994 and 1998.