The plaintiffs in Maslow v Board of Elections in the City of New York, who recently lost their lawsuit in the 2nd circuit, will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. The issue is whether a state may make it illegal for anyone to circulate a petition to get a candidate on a partisan primary ballot unless the circulator is a registered member of the same party.

One of the weaknesses in the state’s position is that the state law makes an exception for an individual who is a Notary Public, or a Commissioner of Deeds. Such a person may circulate petitions to put a candidate on a primary ballot, no matter what party he or she is registered in. The state defends its restriction as a way to protect political parties from unwanted interference from members of another party, but that argument is undercut by the exception for Notaries Public and Commissioners of Deeds.

An interesting aspect of the lawsuit is that one of the plaintiffs who wants to circulate a petition is the wife of one of the candidates. Because the wife is a registered Democrat, she couldn’t circulate petitions for her husband, because he was running in a Republican primary.