On February 8, Shawn Wilmoth, who has been hired to collect signatures to place Rocky De La Fuente on the Democratic presidential primary ballots in many states, filed a federal lawsuit against the Connecticut law that bars out-of-state circulators for primary petitions. Wilmoth lives in Michigan. The case is Wilmoth v Merrill, 3:16cv-223.
De La Fuente needs 7,039 signatures to be collected from February 16 through March 4. Only registered Democrats may sign. This is a difficult petition requirement. Because the petitioning period has already started, the lawsuit is being expedited. The state’s response is due February 22, and the reply brief is due February 24. The hearing is February 25, on Wilmoth’s request for injunctive relief. The case is assigned to Judge Janet C. Hall, the same judge who enjoined the out-of-state ban on out-of-state circulators for general election petitions last month.
How about this…
Democrats and Republican presidential candidates should be barred from receiving any funds that are not from registered Connecticut Democrats or Republicans and also be barred from spending any funds that are outside of that specific money on their campaign in the state of Connecticut.
The whole system is antiquated. People should be allowed to e-sign, online. Unlike voting (where e-voting raises significant verification issues, because voting is private) signing candidate petitions is a public act. This would be particularly empowering for candidates whose support is not clustered in a particular area. In fact, the whole process could be tied in with the voter registration system.