U.S. Supreme Court Accepts a Campaign Finance Case

Posted on by October 4, 2021
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On September 30, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Federal Election Commission v Cruz for Senate, 21-12. The issue is a federal law that limits a candidate to raising no more than $250,000 after an election is over, for the purpose of paying back to the candidate money he or she had loaned to the campaign. The lower court had struck down the law. The FEC asked the U.S. Supreme Court to summarily reverse the lower court decision, and the Ted Cruz Senate Campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to summarily approve the lower court decision. But the Court will do neither, and will hear the case itself.

U.S. Supreme Court Summarily Affirms 3-Judge Ruling that Depriving D.C. Residents of Voting Representation in Congress is Constitutional

Posted on by October 4, 2021
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On October 4, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the decision of a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Castanon v U.S., 20-1279. The lower court had ruled that nothing in the Constitution requires that the District of Columbia be entitled to a voting representative in the U.S. House.

Here is the brief of the D.C. voters in the U.S. Supreme Court, a brief that has now been rejected. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

New York State Files Brief in Ballot Access Cases

Posted on by October 4, 2021
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On September 24, the state of New York filed this brief in U.S. District Court in the three federal ballot access cases pending in U.S. District Court. One case is filed by the Working Families Party; one by the SAM Party; and one by the Libertarian and Green Parties. SAM Party of N.Y. v Kosinski, s.d., 1:20cv-323.

The state’s brief doesn’t even mention the most important precedent in the case. New York vastly increased the requirements for a group to file a statewide petition, and the definition of a qualified party. The official reason for removing four parties form the ballot, and making it harder for them to get back on, was that New York now has public funding for state office, and if the minor parties were not removed, their candidates would qualify for public funding, which would cost too much money. But New York is in the Second Circuit, and the Second Circuit already ruled in a Connecticut Green Party case that states don’t need to provide equal public funding to minor parties. The new New York brief does not even mention that precedent, Green Party of Connecticut v Garfield.

The new New York brief claims the Second Circuit already ruled against the SAM Party (and by implication, all of the plaintiff parties) but the SAM Party case did not even mention the new statewide petition requirement. The state’s brief claims that as a matter of precedent, the new requirements are constitutional, but there are no precedents in the Second Circuit that uphold petition requirements similar to the new rules, and the most recent U.S. Supreme Court ballot access precedents insist that there is no litmus test separating requirements that are too high from requirements that are not too high, and that a court must study the evidence to see if the new requirements are needed.

Federal Election Commission Rules that Jill Stein Must Repay $175,272 in 2016 Primary Season Matching Funds

Posted on by October 3, 2021
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On September 30, the Federal Election Commission approved a recommendation from FEC staff that Jill Stein must repay $175,272 in 2016 primary season matching funds. The FEC staff recommendation had been made on August 13, 2021. See that recommendation here.

The FEC ruled that payments made to Stein for money she raised after she received the Green Party presidential nomination on August 6, 2016 were improper and should not have been sent to Stein. The total 2016 primary season matching funds she received in 2016 was $590,936.

Stein argued that she was also seeking the Peace & Freedom Party nomination, and it didn’t nominate until mid-August 2016, so the cutoff point should have been the PFP convention date. But the FEC said that because the two major parties had both finished nominating by July 28, the old procedure by which the latest minor party nomination procedure doesn’t matter. The law is quite complicated, but because the two major parties nominated much earlier in 2020 than then had in other recent presidential years, that affected the cut-off for the Green Party. If the Peace & Freedom Party had had a national convention instead of just a state convention, then the PFP convention date could have been used.

For the 2020 election, Howie Hawkins applied for primary season matching funds, and even though it is clear he qualified, the FEC still hasn’t sent the money. But it is expected soon.

September 2021 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by October 1, 2021
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Ballot Access News
September 2021 – Volume 37, Number 4

This issue was printed on white paper.

Table of Contents

  1. TEXAS LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL FOR A LATER PRIMARY; BALLOT ACCESS WILL BE AFFECTED
  2. MAYOR OF BUFFALO EXPECTED TO SUE OVER PETITION DEADLINE
  3. IDAHO WIN FOR INITIATIVES
  4. U.S. HOUSE PASSES BILL TO RESTORE VOTING RIGHTS ACT
  5. GEORGIA U.S. HOUSE BALLOT ACCESS
  6. ILLINOIS U.S. HOUSE BALLOT ACCESS CASE
  7. UTAH INITATIVE FOR TOP-FIVE
  8. ALASKA STATE COURT UPHOLDS TOP-FOUR
  9. TEXAS ACCESS BILL
  10. OHIO LIBERTARIANS APPEAL CASE ON EXCLUSION FROM ELECTION COMMISSION
  11. CANADA 2021 ELECTION DEBATES
  12. MOST CROWDED GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT FOR U.S. HOUSE
  13. 2022 PETITIONING FOR STATEWIDE OFFICE
  14. PROGRESSIVE PARTY WINS CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL ELECTION
  15. RICHARD LAMM DIES
  16. MARKHAM ROBINSON DIES
  17. WORKING FAMILIES NOMINATES NO ONE FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR
  18. INCARCERATED MAN ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE IN D.C.
  19. COFOE HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING
  20. VIRGINIA USES SAME BALLOT LABEL FOR LIBERTARIAN PARTY AND LIBERATION PARTY
  21. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL