On July 20, the Kansas Attorney General and attorneys for the Constitution Party filed a joint brief in U.S. District Court, arguing that the Kansas ban on out-of-state circulators is unconstitutional.  The case is Constitution Party of Kansas v Biggs, 10-4043-SAC.

It is now expected that U.S. District Court Judge Sam Crow will issue an opinion, mirroring the points in the brief and holding the law unconstitutional.  Kansas state officials feel that they cannot hope to prevail, so by agreeing with plaintiffs, that saves the state additional litigation expenses.  Kansas is in the 10th circuit, and in 2008 the 10th circuit ruled in an Oklahoma case that bans on out-of-state circulators are unconstitutional.

The other issue in the case remains unsettled.  That is whether Kansas must let voters register into parties that are not ballot-qualified.  The Constitution Party is not ballot-qualified in Kansas, but it is organized, and its members would like to be able to register into the Constitution Party.  The Kansas voter registration form has a checkbox for each of the four qualified parties, and no write-in line, so voters must either choose independent status, or they must say they are members of the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian or Reform Parties, on their voter registration forms.