On April 21, U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Arleo, an Obama appointee, upheld the New Jersey law that requires candidates for sheriff to have lived in the county for the last three years. Oswald v Ireland-Imhof, 2:22cv-2195. Here is the opinion.
New Jersey does not have any duration of residency requirement for any other public office that is longer than one year.
The only qualified parties on the ballot in North Dakota this year are the Republican and Democratic Parties. This is the first year since 2006 for which that has been true. For 2008-2020, the Libertarian Party was also on the ballot.
The petition is 7,000 signatures, and the North Dakota Libertarian Party didn’t submit a petition this year because party leaders said they had no candidates willing to run for office this year.
In 2006, although the Libertarian Party wasn’t on the ballot in North Dakota, it placed an independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. Senate. The non-presidential independent petition is much easier, and requires 1,000 signatures due in early September. An independent candidate could still qualify in North Dakota this year.
On April 21, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth District, invalidated the new U.S. House district boundaries as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The decision is based on the State Constitution. Harkenrider v Hochul, 22-00506. The vote is 3-2. Both dissenters, Justices Gerald J. Whalen and Joanne M. Winslow, are Democrats. The majority comprises Republican Justice John V. Centra, and Democratic Justices Stephen K. Lindley and John M. Curran. Here is the decision. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.
The order gives the legislature until April 30 to draw new districts. It is extremely likely that the case will be appealed to the state’s highest state court, the Court of Appeals.
New York state campaign finance law allows greater contribution limits to candidates of qualified parties, than to candidates of unqualified parties. Last year a U.S. District Court held that disparity to be unconstitutional. The state is appealing. Here is the Second Circuit brief of the Upstate Jobs Party, which had filed the case. Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski, 21-2518. The introduction to the brief has a rousing discussion of the benefits that small and minor parties have made to the U.S.
On April 20, the San Diego city council held a hearing on a bill for ranked choice voting. Currently San Diego city elections have a primary in June of even years, and then in November, the top two vote-getters compete, even if someone got 50% in the primary.
The bill would eliminate the primary except in races with at least six candidates. In races with fewer than six candidates, there would only be the November election. However, that system has the disadvantage that candidates must file early in the year, even though the election in most cases would not be held for eight months after the filing deadline.
This newspaper story describes the skeptical reception received by the bill. The story also indicates that a proposal to have only one round in all cases might be more acceptable. If the bill provided for only one round, in November, then the filing deadline could be much later in the year, probably in August. Thanks to Eric Wong for the link.
