The Missouri legislature adjourned on May 13. None of the bill to make the initiative process more difficult passed. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
1
New York Supreme Court Justice Patrick McAllister will hold a hearing on Thursday, May 19, at 10 a.m., in Bath, New York. The purpose of the hearing will be to consider petitioning relief for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, for the 2022 election. Here is the order setting up the hearing.
Even though Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has already gone through the Georgia administrative procedure to determine if she is qualified to run for re-election, she is appealing the U.S. District Court order that forced her to go through that process. The result of the process was that she was found qualified.
The Fourth Circuit case is 22-11299. Her opening brief is due later in May. The oral argument will probably be in early August.
As reported previously, on March 17, the Indiana Green Party filed a federal lawsuit over the large number of signatures needed for the nominees of unqualified parties to get on the ballot. Indiana Green Party v Sullivan, s.d., 1:22cv-518. No statewide minor party or independent candidate petition has succeeded in Indiana since 2000. Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot. The other three, Georgia, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, have since Nader last ran eased their procedures for presidential candidates, if not for all office.
The Indiana case is getting a slow start, because the state has twice asked for a delay in responding. The original response was due April 13, but now it is due May 18.
Missouri is one of nineteen states in which the voter registration form does not ask about party membership. On May 12, the Missouri legislature passed HB 1878, a very long election law bill. It has a provision for adding a question about party membership on the form. The applicant could only choose a qualified party or unaffiliated status. There is no provision for a blank line, which could be used by an applicant to indicate membership in an unqualified party.
Missouri has an open primary, in which any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot. HB 1878 does not change that. Therefore, the party membership question on the form has no practical effect. Arkansas also has a question about party membership on its voter registration form, and likewise the Arkansas question has no practical effect.
During the last fifty years, other states that have added a party membership question to the registration form are Idaho, Rhode Island, and Utah. There are no examples of any state that had the question, and then eliminated it. Thanks to Ken Bush for the news about the Missouri bill.