On August 2, a Connecticut Superior Court denied injunctive relief against the law that requires a candidate running in a primary for U.S. House to collect the signatures of 2% of that party’s registered members in 42 days. Most primary candidates in Connecticut never need to collect signatures, because they can also get on a primary ballot if they show significant support at a party meeting.

The plaintiff, Muad Hrezi, hoped to be on the 2022 Democratic primary ballot for U.S. House in District One. Hrezi v Merrill, Hartford, HHD-cv22-6156703-S. Here is the decision, which is noteworthy for doing a good job of listing precedents that struck down ballot access laws. Often when a judge upholds a law, the opinion neglects to mention the precedents on the other side.

In Connecticut, only parties that polled 20% of the last gubernatorial vote nominate by primary. Smaller ballot-qualified parties nominate by convention.

The plaintiff needed 3,833 valid signatures of Democrats.

Washington held its top-two primary on August 2. No minor party candidates placed first or second, so there will be no minor party candidates for any federal or state office in November.

The minor party candidates who were on the ballot in the 2022 primary were:

1. U.S. Senate, Socialist Workers, Henry Clay Dennison, placed eleventh out of eighteen candidates, although that might change slightly when all the ballots are counted. He polled .62%.

2. US House, 3rd district, American Solidarity, Oliver Black, placed ninth out of nine candidates with .17%.

3. US House, 8th district, Libertarian, Justin Greywolf, placed ninth out of eleven candidates with .68%.

4. State Rep, 8-2, Alliance, Larry Stanley, placed fourth out of four with 1.84%.

5. State Rep, 16-1, Peace & Freedom, Sharon Kay Schiller, placed third out of three with 3.34%.

6. State Rep, 27-1, Forward, Todd Briske, placed third out of three with 4.54%.

7. State Rep, 38-2, Libertarian, David Wiley, placed third out of four with 2.9%.

There were also three legislative candidates who ran under the label “Election Integrity Party”, but there is no such party. All three are Republicans. The three are Lori Theis in district 32-1, Mike Nykreim in district 41-1, and Amber Krabach in district 45-2. Nykreim and Krabach had been Republican candidates for the same seats in 2020. In 2022, Theis was the only opponent to a Democrat, so she advanced to the November ballot. Also in 2022, Nykreim was the only opponent to a Democrat, so he also advanced. Krabach was in a three-person race with a Democrat and another Republican, and she placed third.

On August 2, the Democratic National Committee submitted this document to the U.S. District Court that is hearing the North Carolina Green Party ballot access. The Democratic National Committee insists that the lawsuit cannot be settled with a consent decree. There is no consent decree yet, but it seems likely there will be one because the State Board of Elections on August 1 agreed that the party has enough valid signatures. A consent decree would be between the State Board of Elections and the Green Party, and would say the court doesn’t need to take further action because both sides have agreed.

Consent decrees have resolved ballot access lawsuits in federal courts many times. Examples include cases from the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.