Hipolito Fontes filed this brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, on April 14. The case, Fontes v City of Central Falls, concerns the constitutionality of a city ordinance that says voters may sign for only one candidate for any particular office. The U.S. District Court had invalidated the rule last year, and the city is appealing. The brief has 26 pages of text and has some good points about “ballot clutter”, the city’s excuse for its restriction. If Fontes had not won his case before the city’s election last year, the voters would have had only one candidate for Mayor on the ballot.

The First Circuit now has three constitutional ballot access cases pending. The First Circuit includes Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The other two pending cases are both about whether unqualified parties should be permitted to use a stand-in presidential candidate on petitions, and are from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.