On September 19, the Tennessee Libertarian Party filed a notice of appeal in Darnell v Hargett, the ballot access case filed in 2023. The U.S. District Court last month upheld the law on how a new party gets on the ballot, a petition signed by 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. The U.S. District Court decision did not mention that the U.S. Supreme Court has twice said that if a ballot access law is so stringent that it is rarely used, it is probably unconstitutional. No party has got on the Tennessee ballot by petition since 1968. Parties that tried and failed to petition successfully have included the Populist, Green, Constitution, Americans Elect, and Reform Parties.
The U.S. District Court decision also did not mention that the current law creates voter confusion in Tennessee. Because the independent presidential petition is only 275 signatures, independent presidential candidates always appear with the inaccurate label “Independent”, instead of the proper label.
UPDATE: the case number in the Sixth Circuit is 24-5856.
That’s bold of you to use the “voter confusion” argument against the state, Richard. 🙂
Miss you Chris. Gone but not forgotten. To one of the great ones!
This could encourage the Tennessee legislature to increase the petition signature requirement to get on the ballot as an independent.
Standing count would solve this.