On January 14, the Texas Libertarian Party asked a U.S. District Court to enjoin the need for filing fees as applied to parties that nominate by convention. Bilyeu v Scott, w.d., 1:21cv-01089. Here is the 21-page brief.
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On January 14, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker denied the Maine Green Party’s request to intervene in the Libertarian Party’s ballot access lawsuit, because the Green Party’s paperwork was submitted by two party leaders who are not attorneys. Although any legally competent non-attorney may represent himself or herself in court, only attorneys can represent a group.
The case is Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509. The U.S. District Court had struck down the procedures for a member of the Libertarian Party to get on the party’s primary ballot, because the state law doesn’t take into account the number of registered voters in the party and only party members can sign. The Green Party theoretically is still free to retain an attorney and re-apply for relief.
Georgia limits the petitioning period for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to the six months between mid-January and mid-July. The petitioning period started on January 13, 2022. Yet the Secretary of State still can’t tell potential candidates for district office how many signatures they need. The petitions are 5% of the number of registered voters as of the preceding general election. It is complicated for the state to calculate these numbers after redistricting.
Furthermore, some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits against the new boundaries are requesting that the 2022 primary be delayed, in case the judges invalidate any of the districts and new districts must be drawn. This uncertainty makes it illogical for any independent or minor party candidate to begin petitioning now.
In 2002, when the new boundaries were not definitely known until March, a U.S. District Court ordered that the number of signatures be reduced, in proportion to the amount of time that petitioning could not rationally be carried on. That case was Parker v Barnes, n.d., 1:02cv-1883.
Virginia law does not have any procedure for an unqualified party to transform itself into a qualified party, in advance of any election. It just has candidate petitions. It defines a party as a group that polled 10% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections.
Virginia only allows party labels for petitioning candidates if the group has shown that it has a committee in each of the state’s eleven U.S. House districts, at least six months before the petitioning deadline. Recently the People’s Party completed the paperwork, documenting that it has the needed committees in each district. Therefore, if the People’s Party petitions for any federal partisan offices in 2022, its nominees can have the party label on the ballot.
There are no statewide offices up in Virginia in 2022. There are only U.S. House elections, and local elections, and Virginia doesn’t print party labels for local elections, even if they are partisan.
On January 12, U.S. District Court Judge John Adams issued a 60-day stay in the Ohio lawsuit against the new U.S. House district boundaries. Simon v DeWine, n.d., 4:21cv-2267. The three-page order says it would be more efficient to see what happens with state court lawsuits against the legislative districting plan. The plaintiffs in the Simon case argue that both the U.S. House districts and the new legislative districts injure African-American voters.
The 2022 Ohio primary is in May.