On January 18, Kells Hetherington filed this brief in his lawsuit against the Florida law that makes it a crime for candidates for non-partisan school boards to reveal their party membership during the campaign. He was fined $500 for saying that he is a “lifelong Republican.” Later the fine was reduced to $200. Hetherington v Madden, n.d., 3:21cv-671.

The Florida law is in section 106.143(3) of the election code. The last sentence is, “A candidate for nonpartisan office is prohibited from campaigning based on party affiliation.”

So far, the government’s defense of the law has been procedural, claiming that Hetherington sued the wrong defendant, and arguing that facts about Florida school boards mentioned in the plaintiff’s brief should be stricken, because the plaintiff cited Ballotpedia, and the government’s brief argues that references to websites like Ballotpedia are just “hearsay”.

The Brennan Center has issued this report, listing each state’s redistricting lawsuits.

On January 21, a federal lawsuit was filed against the new Florida ban on paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. Florida Right to Pray Together v Lee, n.d., 4:22cv-33. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle, a Clinton appointee. Here is the Complaint. The case also challenges the new law requiring that the names and addresses of paid petitioners be printed on the initiative petition sheets, and the new law requiring paid circulators to register with the Secretary of State before they can work.