On Monday, August 14, 2023, US District Court Judge James Sweeney, a Trump appointee, ruled that Indiana’s petition requirement of 2% of the last total vote for Secretary of State for a party to put a statewide minor party or independent candidate is constitutional. Indiana Green Party v Sullivan, 1:22cv-518. The 2024 petition requirement is 36,944 signatures.
The decision is only ten pages. It says that because the 2% petition was upheld in 1985, therefore it is valid. It does not say that when the 2% petition was upheld in 1984, the petition deadline was in September. Since then it has moved to June.
The decision also does not say that when the 1985 opinion was issued, the law had only been in effect for one election year, and the 1985 opinion said that in the future if the record shows that the requirement is too difficult, there might be a different conclusion.
Judge Sweeney did not mention the fact that twice, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that if a ballot access requirement is almost never successfully used, it is probably unconstitutional. Judge Sweeney did mention that no one has completed the statewide petition since 2000, but he seemed to find this fact insignificant.
It is almost certain that an appeal will be filed. Indiana is one of only four states in which the Green Party presidential nominee has never been on the ballot. The others are Georgia, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.
The Libertarian Party was a co-plaintiff, but the Libertarian Party has been on the ballot continuously in Indiana since 1992, so the meaningful plaintiff is the Green Party.
A Trump appointment hates liberty? Not too surprising.
Commie Deep Stater Edward Brown wrong again? Not too surprising.
>>Page 5: “…the state needs no “particularized showing” of voter confusion, ballot “overcrowding,” or the like to rely on those asserted interests…”
So, the court takes opinions without evidence as fact? But only from the State defendant? I didn’t follow the case proceedings, but it seems like we need to spend less time describing the harm (you don’t need a college degree to see it!) and more time refuting and burying the State’s false claims of interest. Also, what kind of court is more interested in State interest than public interest?
>>Page 8: “…the State — the body politic as it exists independently of the party-affiliated individuals who fill its offices — has no legitimate interest in shielding established parties from either outside competition or internal dissent…”
That’s f***ing wrong and the judge knows it! Unprofessional to write this in a legal document!
Nope. Trump hates America.
No, that would be you, not Trump.
I agree with Mr. Pink. Mr. Brown does not sound like a patriot to me.
ONE MORE DISASTER BALLOT ACCESS CASE
NO MENTION OF 1954 BROWN V BD OF ED — AS USUAL SINCE 1968 WILLIAMS V RHODES.
—
P-A-T
Why does Edward Brown hate America?
@AC,
That is standard text in ballot access cases. You will find it in the recent Texas opinion. When the Texas Legislature was considering new restrictions the legislators would assert they were interested in avoiding ballot crowding, voter confusion, and unserious candidates.
LEGISLATIVE HACKS DO N-O-T HAVE TO GIVE ANY REASON(S) FOR ANY BILL/LAW —
FOR 6,000 PLUS YEARS
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P-A-T
@AZ,
Legislative intent.
LAW 000001 —- 3 TYPES OF LAWS –
SHALL — SHALL NOT — MAY
AT VARIOUS TIMES/PLACES
HOW MANY OF EACH IN USA CONST. ???
SOME OF THE SHALL = MAY — ESP IN 1-8
OLDE LATIN —
expressio unius est exclusio alterius
AKA UNIUS
Abi, troglodytam stultus!
It seems to me that it should be up to the voters to determine who the “frivolous” candidates are.
That’s what elections are for.
Indiana needs the Max plan!
@WZ,
You are clearly confused. If there were more choices more voters might show up which would cause long lines and some would become exhausted or miss the circus performance.
WHAT ???
DONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS IN A CIRCUS PERFORMANCE ON ELECTION DAYS/NIGHTS ???
LAST REAL TRAVEL CIRCUS BIZ IN USA CIRCA 1980 ???
Caucuses, town meetings, and conventions have a better style of in person voting which should be applied to general elections.
Pig farmer is right.
I wrote in George Wolfe as Secretary of State in 2018, and did the same in 2022 with David Wetterer. It’d be great if the Greens were actually able to get ballot access here, but given the dismal nature of this state, I’m not surprised they weren’t able to win this.
Indiana is one of the best states in the nation despite having commie areas like Gary, Indianapolis, and Bloomington. Mahoney is a fucking retard and should take his commie beliefs to New York.