On February 1, the Oregon House Rules Committee introduced HB 4044. It eases the registration test for parties to remain ballot-qualified. Currently parties remain on the ballot if they polled 1% for any statewide office at either of the last two elections, or if they have registration of one-half of 1%. The bill would lower the registration test to one-fourth of 1%. The bill was introduced at the request of the Working Families Party.
On February 8, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a 1997 law that shortened the amount of time for circulation of a statewide referendum petition. No Bans on Choice v Ashcroft, SC98879. Here is the opinion. The vote is 5-2.
Before 1997, referendum petitions (which are used to block a new law just passed by the legislature) had at least 90 days to circulate. But in 1997, the legislature passed a law saying the petition couldn’t circulate until the Attorney General and the Secretary of state had chosen the “official ballot title”. In 2019, because of various delays caused by those state officials, the plaintiffs were left with only 14 days to circulate their petition, which required approximately 100,000 valid signatures. The lower court struck down the restriction on the starting date, and now the State Supreme Court has affirmed it. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
On February 9, the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in Pierce v Jacobsen, 21-35173. This is the case over Montana’s ban on out-of-state circulators for initiatives, and on the state’s ban on paying circulators per signature. The three judges are Richard Paez (a Clinton appointee), Jacqueline Nguyen (an Obama appointee), and John R. Tunheim (a Clinton appointee, a District Court Judge visiting from Minnesota).
The argument went well on the out-of-state issue. As to the ban on paying circulators per signature, that is difficult to predict. The attorney for the state said the law would permit initiative sponsors to pay a bonus to a circulator who collected some particular number of signatures. That concession weakens the harm done by the law. The specific example that the judges asked about was, “Could the initiative sponsor promise to pay a $10,000 bonus to a circulator who collects at least 10,000 signatures?”. The attorney for the state said that is permitted.
On February 7, the North Carolina State Board of Elections filed this brief in Cawthorn v Circosta, e.d., 5:22cv-50. This is the case filed by Congressman Madison Cawthorn, to stop the Board from adjudicating whether he meets the Constitutional qualifications to run for re-election. The challenge to him is based on the 14th Amendment, section 3, which bars anyone who took an oath to the constitution, and then engages in insurrection.
The most interesting part of the brief starts on page 25, and argues that states can judge the qualifications of congressional candidates, and can keep unqualified candidates off the ballot. Earlier parts of the brief argue procedural problems, such as arguing that Congressman Cawthorn hasn’t been injured unless the challenge succeeds, so the case is premature.
The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) will contribute $2,000 to help pay the costs of filing a cert petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Alabama case over access to the list of registered voters. Alabama gives a free list of the registered voters to qualified parties, and to state legislators, and to jury commissioners, and to the election offices of other states. But it charges over $36,000 if an unqualified party wants the list.
In 1970 a 3-judge U.S. District Court in New York ruled that if the state gives a free list of the registered voters to the qualified parties, it must give the list to unqualified parties that are petitioning. Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller, 400 US 806. The U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed this ruling, which means that it is binding on the entire country. Nevertheless, the lower federal courts in Alabama upheld the state’s policy. The Alabama Libertarian Party will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. All courts outside Alabama that have considered a case like this have always ruled that the list must be given to the minor party or independent candidate who had sued. There is a Circuit split with the Second Circuit, which always helps to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case.
COFOE gets all its income from persons who contribute to COFOE. COFOE thanks everyone who has contributed over the years. COFOE was founded in 1985 and is a loose coalition of most of the nation’s nationally-organized parties, plus other organizations that support ballot access.
