On September 4, Maryland state officials filed this brief in Dorsey v Lamone, 1:15cv-2170. The issue is the state’s policy of requiring almost four times as many signatures for a statewide independent as for an entire new party.

The state’s brief doesn’t actually explain any state interest in requiring more signatures for an independent than for a new party. It just cites the boiler-plate state interest in requiring ballot access restrictions, preventing frivolous candidates and keeping the ballot uncluttered.

The state claims that the independent petition procedure doesn’t really discriminate against independent candidates because parties have the burden of selecting officers and holding state conventions. The historical record shows that the independent procedure is obviously more difficult. In the period starting in 2000 to the present, only one statewide independent petition has succeeded in Maryland, but there have been 27 minor party candidates for statewide office on the Maryland ballot in the same period. The one statewide independent petition that succeeded was that of S. Rob Sobhani, a wealthy individual who ran for U.S. Senate as an independent in 2012. Minor party petitions that have succeeded in Maryland in the time period 2000 to the present include four Libertarian petitions, five Green petitions, one Independent Party petition, one Populist Party petition, and three Constitution Party petitions.