U.S. Supreme Court Public Funding of Campaigns Decision Expected June 23 or June 27

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The U.S. Supreme Court released four opinions on June 20, but it did not release its opinion in Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v Bennett, 10-238. The Court only has two more scheduled dates for the release of opinions before it goes on its summer break. Those dates are Thursday, June 23, and Monday, June 27. The Arizona case was argued in March. Traditionally, the Court releases opinions in all argued cases before going on summer recess.

Arizona Free Enterprise is about Arizona’s extra public funding for campaigns, for publicly-funded candidates who have well-funded opponents who aren’t using public funding. The case does not directly involve minor parties or independent candidates, but the decision will have important implications for the pending lawsuit against Connecticut’s public funding law, which discriminates harshly against independent candidates and the nominees of new parties.

Ohio Secretary of State Forbids County Election Board from Checking Petitions Before they are Submitted

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On June 10, Ohio Secretary of State John Husted issued a directive to Ohio county election boards. The directive forbids them from checking petition validity before the entire petition has been submitted. This is unfortunate, because Ohio petition validity in invariably very low, for initiative proponents, new parties, and candidates alike. Many states will check petitions on a flow basis, so that petitioning groups know how well they are doing, and need not be in such suspense.

Some Ohio county election boards had been doing these kinds of checks, but they were unofficial. The directive says if the practice continues, the official validity checks might be different than the unofficial checks. But there is an easy solution for that problem; just tell petitioning groups that the preliminary check isn’t necessarily final. The information would still be useful. Thanks to Anthony Davis for the link.

Nevada Republican Party Nominates U.S. House Candidate in Convention

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On June 18, the Nevada Republican Party held a nominating convention and chose Mark Amodei as its nominee for U.S. House, in the September 2011 special election in the 2nd district. The Democrats will hold a similar convention on June 25. The Independent American Party will also hold a nominating convention. However, no one yet knows if the convention nominees will be on the ballot as the sole nominee of that party, or not. The Nevada Supreme Court will be deciding that issue soon.

Texas Governor Signs Bill Changing Date of Run-Off Primary

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On June 17, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed SB 100. It keeps the primary in March, but moves the runoff primary from April to May. That has the indirect effect of moving the independent candidate petition deadline from May to June. However, the independent presidential deadline continues to be in May.

As noted before on this blog, the May petition deadline for independent presidential candidates in Texas was already on shaky ground. In 1983 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Anderson v Celebrezze that independent presidential petition deadlines can’t be as early as the spring of election years. All states other than Texas have independent presidential petition deadlines in July, August, and September, except for five states with June deadlines. Texas is alone in having its presidential deadline in May. The fact that Texas now has a June petition deadline for independent candidates for office other than President will make it even harder for Texas to defend a May petition deadline for presidential independent candidates, if and when anyone sues. Obviously, if Texas can cope with June petition deadlines for other independent candidates, what possible need does Texas have for a May deadline for independent presidential candidates?

Vermont’s June petition deadline for independent candidates is currently being litigated in state court.