North Carolina Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Hear its Case on Whether State Courts Can Participate in U.S. House Redistricting

Posted on by March 21, 2022
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The U.S. Supreme Court has now docketed Moore v Harper, 21-1271. This is the case filed by North Carolina officials over whether Article One of the U.S. Constitution bars state courts from being involved in disputes over U.S. House districts. The state claims that Article One gives all power over federal elections to the state legislature (or to Congress, if Congress wishes to overrule state legislatures). This theory has been rejected in several previous U.S. Supreme Court opinions. Here is the state’s cert petition. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

U.S. District Court Orders Another Round of Briefs in Case on Whether Virginia Must Elect Delegates This Year

Posted on by March 21, 2022
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On March 21, U.S. District Court Judge David J. Novak, a Trump appointee, held a status conference in Goldman v Northam, e.d., 3:21cv-420. This is the case on whether Virginia must hold elections this year for lower house of the state legislature. The last election for that office was in November 2021, and the state used districts based on the 2010 census. The plaintiff argues that it violates one-person, one-vote to allow members of the lower house to remain in office til January 2024, when they were elected in districts based on the 2010 census.

The judge ordered another round of briefs, to be confined to whether the plaintiff, a voter, has standing. All new briefs will be filed by April 21. This news story says that the judge orally scolded the state for having caused the case (which was filed last year) to move so slowly.

Yet Another Congressional Vote Shows Letting Independents Vote in Primaries Does Not Elect Centrists

Posted on by March 21, 2022
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Advocates of letting independent voters vote in partisan primaries constantly say that independents are moderates, and letting independents vote in partisan primaries helps elect moderates. Research overwhelmingly rebuts this assumption. Yet another example is the roll call vote of March 9 on HR 6968, to ban oil imports from Russia. It passed with only 17 “no” votes. The “no” votes came from these members of Congress: Andy Biggs (Arizona), Dan Bishop (North Carolina), Lauren Boebert (Colorado), Cori Bush (Missouri), Madison Cawthorn (North Carolina), Scott Des Larlais (Tennessee), Matt Gaetz (Florida), Louis Gohmert (Texas), Paul Gosar (Arizona), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Glenn Grothman (Wisconsin), Clay Higgins (Louisiana), Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Bill Posey (Florida), Chip Roy (Texas), and Tom Tiffany (Wisconsin).

Only three of these seventeen are from states with closed primaries. This shows once again that there is no correlation between type of primary, and what kind of person gets elected.

Alabama Libertarian Party Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Case on Access to List of Registered Voters

Posted on by March 21, 2022
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On March 21, the Alabama Libertarian Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case over access to the list of registered voters. Alabama gives a list of the registered voters free to the qualified parties, but it charges $36,000 for an unqualified party, even if that unqualified party is petitioning and obviously needs the list to help it check the validity of its petition.

In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a judgment of a 3-judge U.S. District Court in New York, that if the state gives a free list of the registered voters to the qualified parties, it must give it to unqualified parties who are petitioning. Despite that, and precedents from lower courts outside Alabama that agreed with that principle, the federal courts in Alabama refused to follow the precedent and ruled against the Libertarian Party. Here is the cert petition. The case number hasn’t been assigned yet (the number on the filing is not the case number).

2020 Democratic Nominee for Governor of North Dakota Will Run for State Senate as an Independent

Posted on by March 21, 2022
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Shelley Lenz, the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of North Dakota in 2020, will run as an independent candidate for the State Senate this year. See this story.

North Dakota has very difficult ballot access for minor party and independent candidates for state legislature. The minor party requirement is so difficult, no minor party nominee for legislature has been able to qualify since 1976. The law does not allow minor parties to nominate for legislature unless approximately 11% of all the primary voters choose the minor party’s primary ballot.

The independent candidate procedures are also difficult. Independents need a petition of 300 signatures, which represents approximately 4% of the number of voters who voted for president in the typical legislative district in 2020. Very few independent candidates for the legislature qualify. In 2018 and also in 2020, only one did so.