The New York Times has this story about how Russian elections are not free. The third point in the story includes restrictive ballot access. The story says that in the 2021 parliamentary election, 174 independent candidates submitted petitions, but only eleven of them were found to have valid petitions.
On September 17, a three-judge panel of a North Carolina Superior Court in Raleigh invalidated the state’s photo ID law for voters. Holmes v Moore, 18 CVS 15292. Here is the opinion. The vote was 2-1. The basis was that the law has a racially discriminatory effect. The law would have survived if it had included more forms of photo ID. Thanks to the Election Law Blog for the link.
On September 15, the CATO Institute filed this amicus curiae brief in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Crites, 21-226. This is the lawsuit over the composition of the Ohio Elections Commission, which, by law, consists of three Republicans, three Democrats, and one person who is not a member of any party.
All 50 Democratic (including the two Independents who work with the Democrats) Senators support S2747, introduced on September 14. It is the “Freedom to Vote” Act. Here is a link to the text.
The bill eliminates public funding for presidential candidates in primary season, one of the few federal government programs that helps minor parties.
On September 13, the California legislature sent two election law bills to Governor Gavin Newsom. AB 446 somewhat eases the procedure for a group to become a qualified party. SB 660 makes it illegal for initiative proponents to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. Governors of California have twelve days to act on bills, after they receive them, not counting Sundays.
