On October 15, some Florida voters filed a lawsuit in state court against Governor Ron DeSantis, who has failed to set special election dates for three vacancies in the state legislature. Three Democratic state representatives resigned to run in the upcoming January 2022 election for Congress in the 20th district. Florida law forces incumbents who run for different positions to resign their old office, even before they know whether they will be elected to the new office.

Potential candidates for the three legislative seats have been waiting since the beginning of August for the Governor to set special election dates for the legislative elections. They are afraid that without judicial relief, the seats will be vacant all through the 2022 legislative session, which runs from January through March. The case is Staples v DeSantis, in the 2nd judicial circuit in Leon County.

On October 14, Arkansas filed this brief in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, e.d., 4:19cv-214. The brief says that no U.S. Supreme Court decision, and no U.S. Court of Appeals decision, has ever struck down a petition requirement that was 5% or less. This is almost laughably inaccurate. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a petition requirement of approximately 42,000 signatures to run for Mayor of Chicago in 1979 in Illinois State Board of Elections v Socialist Workers Party. The U.S. Supreme Court also struck down a requirement of 50,000 signatures to run for Cook County Commission in 1992, in Norman v Reed.

The Eighth Circuit struck down North Dakota’s party petition of 15,000 signatures in 1980 in McLain v Meier. At the time, 15,000 was 3.3% of the numbr of eligible signers.

The Eleventh Circuit struck down Georgia’s 1% petition for president in 2016 in Green Party of Georgia v Kemp.

The Sixth Circuit struck down Michigan’s 30,000-signature requirement in 2021 in Graveline v Benson. That number was less than 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.

The state’s brief also says that the First Circuit upheld New Hampshire’s 3% petition in 2006 in Libertarian Party of N.H. v Gardner. Actually that case challenged the 3,000-signature requirement for the nominees of unqualified parties, and 3,000 was less than one-half of 1% of the last vote cast. New Hampshire has two methods for the nominees of unqualified parties to get on the ballot with the party label. There is a 3% full party petition but that was not the subject of that lawsuit.

The state’s brief also asserts that the 90-day limit on completing the petition is to prevent fraud, but the brief does not explain the connection between the short petitioning period and fraud. The state says that the fact that no one has ever complied with the Arkansas 3% petition means nothing because there is no evidence that anyone had tried and failed to collect the 3% petition. But from the past record of past lawsuits against past Arkansas 3% petitions, won by both the Reform Party in 1996 and the Green Party in 2006, it is obvious that parties in the past have tried and failed to complete a 3% petition.

On October 12, U.S. District Court Judge David J. Novak refused to dismiss the lawsuit Goldman v Northam, e.d., 3:21cv-420. He also requested that the chief judge of the Fourth Circuit appoint two more judges for this case. The chief judge of the Fourth Circuit did make such appointments on October 13.

The issue is whether it violates one-person, one-vote, for Virginia to use districts based on the 2010 census to elect its House of Delegates on November 2, 2021. A hearing will be held in this case on December 3, 2021. It is possible that the election returns for House of Delegates held next month will be nullified, and a new election scheduled, after new districts, based on the 2020 census. Or it is possible that the 2021 election returns will be valid, but the winners will only be permitted to serve one year terms.