On February 11, the Eleventh Circuit upheld Florida’s closed primary system. Polelle v Florida Secretary of State, 22-14031. The plaintiff is an independent voter in Sarasota County, which is an overwhelmingly Republican county. He argued that his right to vote is being denied because he could not cast a vote in the Republican primary, and the winner of the Republican primary always wins in Sarasota County. The decision mentions that only Republicans have won Sarasota County elections for county office ever since 1968.

The vote is 3-0, but the judges disagreed with each other on whether the plaintiff had standing. Here is the decision, which is by Judge Rosin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee. It says the plaintiff has standing. Judge Nancy Abudu, a Biden appointee, agreed on standing. Judge Gerald Tjoflat, Ford appointee, argued that the plaintiff did not have standing.

The opinion is quite long, because of the standing issue. The majority opinion has 55 pages (mostly on standing) before the main issue is even discussed. The merits portion has another 24 pages. Judge Abudu wrote a five-page concurrence. Judge Tjoflat wrote 27 pages on why he believes the plaintiff has no standing.

On March 3, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed SB 211. It requires initiative circulators to file an affidavit when that circulator’s first batch of signatures is submitted. The circulator must then not collect any more signatures until the Secretary of State notifies the circulator that his or her affidavit has been processed. Here is the text.

On March 3, the Arkansas legislature passed SB 208. It requires initiative circulators to ask potential signers to first show their photo ID to the circulator, before signing. Here is the text. It has an urgency clause and takes effect as soon as the Governor signs the bill.