On June 11, a New Jersey administrative law judge recommended that Libertarian candidate Lana Leguia off the ballot for US House. All sides agree that she has enough valid signatures, but some of her signatures were collected by out-of-state petitioners. However, the Secretary of State is still free to overrule the administrative law judge. The Secretary of State has made no final decision yet.

The case is New Jersey Republican State Committee v Leguia, OALSTE 9209-26. Here is the decision.

The administrative law judge says the out-of-state ban is probably unconstitutional, but that he doesn’t have the authority to declare a law unconstitutional. In 2021 a US District Court in New Jersey struck down the out-of-state ban for primary petitions, so the law is void for primary petitions. But the law continues to ban out-of-state circulators for general election petitions.

There has never been any state in which out-of-state circulators were banned for general election petitions even though they were permitted for primary petitions, until this moment.

On June 9, the Eighth Circuit heard Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. The issue is the February petition deadline for inititive petitions. South Dakota has severe winter weather, and a winter deadline effectively means the initiative must gather its signatures in the year before the election. See this account of the oral argument. The lower court had struck down the deadline.

Lana Leguia, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. House, 7th district, is awaiting a decision from a state court on whether she should be on the ballot. She was challenged on the basis that some of signatures were collected by out-of-state circulators. The New Jersey ban on out-of-state circulators was struck down in 2021, but that case involved primary petitions. She argues that the same logic applies to general election petitions. See this story. A decision is likely in the next day or so.