Brian Doherty has this article for Reason about the January 5 decision of the Eleventh Circuit concerning Georgia ballot access. UPDATE: here is the Associated Press story about the ruling.
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On January 6, a Nevada state trial court refused to disqualify a proposed initiative for top-five. The petition hasn’t gathered the needed signatures yet, but a voter had said even if it did, it could not be on the ballot because it doesn’t have a funding source specified, and in Nevada, initiatives that cost taxpayer money must specify how to pay for the expense caused by the measure. The judge said there is no evidence that the initiative, if enacted, would cost the government to spend any additional money. The state analysis on whether the measure would cost more money is still pending. Helton v Nevada Voters First PAC, 1st judicial district, 21 OC 172.
The case will be appealed to the State Supreme Court. See this story. If the measure were to become law, it would be more difficult for parties to retain their qualified status, because the measure would abolish the lenient vote test (except for president). Thanks to Fairvote for this news.
On January 6, the Oregon Secretary of State ruled that Nicholas Kristof does not meet the residency requirement to run for Governor of Oregon in 2022. Here is a copy of her letter. Thanks to several people for this news.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story about the Eleventh Circuit ruling of January 5. This story is better than most such stories, because the reporter put near the top of the story the fact that the law has existed since 1943 and no minor party candidate for U.S. House has ever been able to comply.
On January 4, the Maine Secretary of State refused to let members of the Green Party collect primary petition signatures from independent voters, even though the federal court ordered the Secretary of State to let Libertarian Party candidates get primary signatures from independent voters. The law requiring a large number of signatures to get on a primary ballot, as applied to small qualified parties, has already been held unconstitutional.
It is likely that the Maine Green Party will now intervene in the Libertarian Party lawsuit, which is still an open case, and ask for the same relief for primary petitions.