On October 5, the Connecticut Libertarian Party filed this petition for rehearing en banc in the Second Circuit in Libertarian Party of Connecticut v Merrill, 20-2179. On October 2, the Second Circuit had refused any ballot access relief, notwithstanding the health crisis. The petition for rehearing acknowledges that it is too late for practical relief for the 2020 election, but asks the Second Circuit to rehear the case for future elections.

The rehearing request points out that the Secretary of State of Connecticut had recommended that petitioning be waived for parties that were on the ballot automatically for at least one of the statewide offices, but the Governor had countermanded that, and instead had merely reduced the petition requirements to 70% of normal.

The Libertarian Party was on the ballot automatically for president and one U.S. House seat, but it wanted to run candidates for other congressional races, and many legislative races. In Connecticut, the vote test is unique. It is 1%, but it applies office-by-office. A party that got 1% for one particular race in the previous election is on the ballot automatically just for that one office. No other state has a vote test like this.