HARRISBURG, — Seventeen candidates lined up Tuesday to compete for party nominations for four open seats on two state appellate courts, state election officials said.

To qualify for the May 15 statewide primary ballot, candidates for two seats on the state Supreme Court and two on the lower state Superior Court were required to gather at least 1,000 voters' signatures, including at least 100 from each of at least five counties.

Officials in the state elections bureau will review the candidates' petitions to ensure they met those requirements, said spokeswoman Leslie Amoros.

Candidates who filed petitions by Tuesday's deadline:

Democrats: Philadelphia County Judges Willis W. Berry Jr. and C. Darnell Jones II; and Superior Court Judges Seamus P. McCaffery of Philadelphia and Debra M. Todd of Allegheny County. The state party has endorsed McCaffery and Todd.Republicans: Michael L. Krancer of Montgomery County, chief judge of the state Environmental Hearing Board; Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green of Butler County; Philadelphia County Judge Paul P. Panepinto. Krancer and Lally-Green have the state party's endorsement.

Democrats: Philadelphia Municipal Judge James M. DeLeon; Allegheny County lawyer Christine L. Donohue; Allegheny County Judge Ronald W. Folino; Philadelphia County Judge Anne E. Lazarus; Philadelphia County Judge James Murray Lynn; Westmoreland County lawyer Timothy J. McCormick; Philadelphia County Judge John Milton Younge. The state party has endorsed only Younge.Republicans: Allegheny County Judge Cheryl L. Allen; Dauphin County Judge Bruce E. Bratton; Westmoreland County lawyer Jacqueline O. Shogan. Bratton and Shogan have the state GOP's endorsement.Candidates have been crisscrossing the state, showing up at party functions and meeting with local party officials to press their case."I've been back and forth across the state four times in the last six weeks, and I'm sure that will continue," said Donohue, a lawyer at the Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney firm who is running as a Democrat for Superior Court.In some cases, the county parties are endorsing candidates who did not receive the state party endorsement, such as Philadelphia County Court's president judge Jones II, a Democrat who is running for Supreme Court.A spokesman for Jones said the judge has received endorsements from five county parties since losing the state party endorsement last month to two Superior Court judges, McCaffery and Todd.After more than a year of campaigning, Supreme Court candidate Krancer said Monday he has visited about 55 or 56 counties of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The number rose over the weekend with visits to county party functions in Erie and Westmoreland counties and a trade fair at Grove City College in Mercer County, he said.Most filings are by Democrats running for Superior Court after the state party endorsed only one person for the two open spots on the bench.