U.S. District Court Strikes Down Texas Law Relating to Voter Procedures

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On August 17, U.S. District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez, a Bush Jr. appointee, struck down a Texas law passed in 2021 that requires a voter to list either his or her Drivers License Number, Personal ID Number, or the last 4 digits of the Social Security Number, on the application for a mail ballot or on the mail ballot itself. The voter must choose (from these three types of numbers) whichever number that voter used when he registered to vote, no matter how long ago that voter registered.

If the voter can’t remember which of the three types of numbers were used on the voter registration form, and chooses one of the other numbers, the application to vote by mail is rejected, or the mail ballot itself is rejected.

Here is the eight-page order in La Union del Pueblo Entero v Abbott, w.d., 5:21cv-0844. The judge will issue a further explanation soon. The ruling is based on the “materiality” portion of the 1964 federal civil rights law, section 101, which says that “no person acting under color of law shall…deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record of paper relating to any application, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual qualified under state law to vote in such election.” This law, little-known, is potentially very powerful and logically ought to be applied to trivial errors in ballot access petitions.

Libertarian Party of Colorado Requirements for Republican Party Candidates

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On August 15, I blogged about the Libertarian Party of Colorado’s policy position requirements for Republican Party of Colorado Federal and State candidates in order to have the LPCO forego running candidates in their races. A technical problem that has been resolved prevented me from posting those until today. 8-13-23 PRESS RELEASE – LPCO & COGOP Candidate Pledge is the press release on the requirements. The policy position requirements for Federal GOP candidates are here: Federal GOP Candidate pledge 2024. The policy position requirements for State GOP candidates are here: State Level GOP Candidate pledge 2024.

Biden/Harris 2024 Campaign Names Ballot Access Counsel

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The reelection campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has selected an Indian-American attorney to be its ballot access attorney. Here is a story on this.

This news seems to be getting a lot of play in Indian online news sources, but not so much in US media.

This seems a somewhat unusual move by a major party candidate. One cannot help but wonder that the appointment is more about trying to keep the Green Party and No Labels off state ballots than the Biden/Harris ticket on ballots.

Oregon Secretary of State Says Ten Republican State Senators Can’t Run for Re-Election in 2024 Because of Unexcused Absences

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On August 8, the Oregon Secretary of State determined that ten incumbent State Senators, all Republicans, can’t run for re-election because of a new constitutional amendment that bars legislators from running for re-election if they had at least ten unexcused absences. See this story.

The Republican Senators believe that the Secretary of State misunderstands the law, and there will probably be a lawsuit. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.

Florida Says No Labels Presidential Petition is Valid

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On August 10, the Florida Secretary of State determined that the No Labels presidential petition is valid. No Labels became a qualified party in Florida in 2022. However, under a law passed in 2011, a qualified party can’t be on for president unless it is recognized by the Federal Election Commission as a “national committee”, or unless it submits a petition signed by 1% of the number of registered voters. No Labels has now successfully done that presidential petition, which required 145,040 signatures.

The 2011 restriction was not enforced in 2012. The Florida Secretary of State said he has no knowledge of which parties are recognized by the FEC, and therefore the law couldn’t be enforced. But in 2016, in order to keep Evan McMullin off the ballot (he was the nominee of the Independent Party of Florida), a new Secretary of State changed the policy and said the law would be enforced. He did not explain how he knew which parties are recognized by the FEC.

In 2020, the Secretary of State put the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the ballot for president, even though the PSL has never been recognized as a national committee by the FEC, and even though it did not do the huge presidential petition. The only parties that have ever been recognized by the FEC as national committees are the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Natural Law, Reform, and Socialist Parties. The 2011 law discriminates against new parties, because the FEC will never grant “national committee” status to a new party. Only parties that have already had a presidential nominee on the ballot in several states, and also congressional candidates on the ballot in several states, can qualify as “national committees.”