Courthouse News Service has this article about the oral argument in the Eleventh circuit on Tuesday, August 24, in Libertarian Party of Alabama v Merrill, 20-13356. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party challenges Alabama’s policy of giving a free list of the registered voters to the Democratic and Republican Parties, but charging approximately $36,000 for parties that are trying to get on the ballot. The Alabama Libertarian Party is trying to get on the 2022 ballot.

The article would have been better if it had told its readers that in 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a decision of a 3-judge court from New York, that said if the state gives a free list of the voters to the qualified parties, it must also give the list to unqualified parties that are trying to get on the ballot. That case was Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller, affirmed, 400 U.S. 806.

The Eleventh Circuit has three states, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Florida gives the list to anyone who asks for it, with no charge. Georgia only charges $50 for its list. These days a single CD can include the entire list, so the cost to provide the list is trivial.