Last year, the Democratic Party sued Arizona over its law that determines the order of candidates on the November ballot. The law says the party that won the gubernatorial vote should have all its nominees listed first, within any particular county. Because the Republicans won the 2018 gubernatorial election in almost all of Arizona’s counties, Republicans were listed first in 2020, and will again be listed in 2022, in almost all counties, unless the law is changed.

In the Ninth Circuit, the case is Mecinas v Hobbs, 20-0249. The Democrats failed to get injunctive relief in 2020. The U.S. District Court said that laws on the order of candidates on the ballot cannot be heard in federal court, because “fair” ballot order is inherently ambiguous. That is an absurd conclusion. Obviously a law that provides for random decisions about order of candidates is fair. Another fair method is rotation of names from one geographical unit to the next.

The opening brief is due in the Ninth Circuit on March 18, 2021.