On November 18, the Eleventh Circuit issued an unsigned, unpublished order in Cowen v Raffensperger, 24-13164. It says the Libertarian Party must start an entirely new case if it wants to continue its challenge to the petition requirement for U.S. House nominees. The petition is 5% of the number of registered voters, which is so severe that it has never been used by a minor party in its 82-year-old history.
The case was filed in 2017. It initially lost in U.S. District Court, but then the Eleventh Circuit remanded it back to the U.S. District Court. Then it won in U.S. District Court. The state appealed and a different panel of the Eleventh Circuit upheld the law.
But then the Georgia legislature amended the election law to say that presidential nominees can be on the ballot automatically in Georgia if they are on the ballot in at least twenty other states. The Libertarian Party wanted to amend its Complaint to make a new argument, that by passing this presidential ballot access law, the state had waived its argument that it had a compelling interest in keeping candidates off the November ballot unless they had overwhelming support inside Georgia. After all, the new presidential law meant that a presidential candidate might get on the ballot even if he or she had no support at all in Georgia.
But the Eleenth Circuit said it was too late for the Libertarians to amend their Complaint, and to make this new argument, they must file an entirely new case.
NONSTOP GET PAST NEXT ELECTION MACHINATIONS
Where is the constitutional power to prevent “clogging the official ballot”? The states did NOT have “official ballots” when the Constitution was ratified and there has been no amendment adding a state power to ration voter choice with ballot petitioning quotas for any candidates. There is no constitutional requirement for the state to print any candidate names on its official ballot. Whether a candidate has “substantial” support can only determined AFTER voters cast their ballots in the general election. A mere pre-election petition before a candidate can campaign does nothing but obstruct the voters right to choose by ballot AFTER hearing from the candidate.