On February 1, 2017, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the March 2016 U.S. District Court decision that struck down Georgia’s ballot access barrier for minor party and independent presidential candidates. That March 2016 lower court decision said requiring approximately 50,000 signatures for president is unconstitutionally high, given the facts and historical record in Georgia. UPDATE: here is an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story about the decision.

The Eleventh Circuit did not write its own opinion. It just entered a two-sentence order saying the U.S. District Court decision is correct. The U.S. District Court decision is reported now: Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 171 F.Supp 3d 1340 (n.d. 2016).

This decision will be very helpful in the new struggle needed in Florida for presidential ballot access. Florida had had very easy presidential ballot access starting in 1999, until August 2016, when the Florida Secretary of State changed his mind and said he would enforce a 2011 ballot access law that his predecessor had refused to implement. That 2011 Florida law said qualified minor parties could not be on for President unless they submitted over 100,000 valid signatures or unless the Federal Election Commission had awarded “national committee” status to that particular party. The Secretary of State in 2011 had said he would not enforce that law because he had no official knowledge of which parties the FEC had recognized. But in August 2016 that decision was revoked, which kept Gloria La Riva, Evan McMullin, and Thomas Hoefling off the Florida ballot, with no warning.

Florida is in the Eleventh Circuit along with Georgia and Alabama, so Eleventh Circuit’s decision binds Florida also.