On December 15, the Maine Libertarian Party asked U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker for an order putting the party on the ballot. Judge Walker had struck down two ballot access laws on November 17, and the party had hoped to persuade the Secretary of State to recognize that because the invalid laws had prevented the party from being on the ballot, to voluntarily put the party on the ballot. But, she refused, so now the matter has returned to court. Here is the party’s request in Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509.

The request also asks for an injunction, letting independent voters sign primary petitions. The old law said only party members could sign primary petitions, but as applied to small qualified parties, Judge Walker had struck down that law because qualified minor parties simply don’t have enough registered members to make it possible for members of their parties to comply with the law. Maine requires 2,000 signatures of party members for statewide office, and 1,000 for U.S. House.

The Bread and Roses Party has asked the Maryland State Board of Elections to remove it from the list of qualified parties. The party’s founder, Jerome Segal, re-registered as a Democrat and will run for Governor of Maryland in 2022. See this story.

The other qualified parties in Maryland are Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Working Class. Thanks to Bob Johnston for this news.

On December 15, the Alaskan Independence Party filed this reply Brief in the Alaska Supreme Court in Kohlhaas v State, S-18210.

The reply brief, as expected, argues that the top-four initiative passed last year violates the Alaska Constitution. But it also suggests a possible compromise. Pages two and three points out that the initiative covered three separate subjects: campaign finance disclosure, top-four, and ranked choice voting for the general election. This reply brief suggests that because these are so diverse from each other, that the court might order a re-vote on the initiative in 2022, with all three subjects separated out from each other, so the voters could vote separately on each idea.