St. Louis Post-Dispatch Article Says Top-Four Initiative Proponents Won’t Reveal Source of Funds

Posted on by January 11, 2022
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A Missouri initiative to establish a top-four system is circulating. This St. Louis Post-Dispatch article says over $1,000,000 has been contributed by a Virginia group that refuses to disclose its donors.

The Missouri initiative makes it far more difficult for parties to attain or keep qualified status. Currently a party in Missouri is a group that polled at least 2% for any statewide race in either of the last two elections. The initiative changes this, so a party could only remain ballot-qualified if it polled 2% for president. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.

Some North Carolina Voters Ask Board of Elections to Bar Congressman Madison Cawthorn from Ballot for January 6 Actions

Posted on by January 11, 2022
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On January 10, a group of North Carolina voters asked the State Board of Elections to rule that Congressman Madison Cawthorn is ineligible to hold congressional office. The voters charge that Cawthorn is ineligible under the Fourteenth Amendment, section 3, which says, “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress…who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”

Here is the legal filing. The specifics about Cawthorn, in relation to the events of January 6, 2021, start on page 14.

Law Professor Derek Muller here expresses the point that because Article One says Congress shall be the judge of its own elections, therefore states perhaps do not have authority to decide for themselves which candidates are eligible, and cannot use qualifications to keep them off the ballot.

U.S. District Court Sets Trial Date for Challenge to Montana Law Banning Indoor Petitioning in Public Colleges

Posted on by January 10, 2022
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A U.S. District Court will hold a trial in Montana Democratic Party v Jacobsen, 9:21cv-119, on July 25, 2022. This is the case that challenges a 2021 Montana law that makes it a crime for a political committee to carry out petitioning, or a voter registration drive, in a residence hall, dining facility, or athletic facility of a public college.