On September 3, U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May finalized interim petition relief for Georgia district and partisan county offices for 2022. She reiterated her original plan to require petitions of 1% of the number of registered voters, plus the filing fee. That will be severe for U.S. House; a candidate will need approximately 5,150 signatures. Cowen v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:17cv-4660. She still seems to be applying the order to legislative and county races as well as U.S. House races.

On September 3, the Alaska Supreme Court unanimously struck down a state law limiting payment to initiative petitioners to only $1 per signature. The decision is unanimous. Resource Development Council for Alaska v State of Alaska, S-17834. Here is the 32-page opinion. Thanks to Ken Jacobus for the news.

On September 3, the Eighth Circuit upheld the Minnesota law that requires noon-presidential independent candidate petitions to carry this language: “I solemnly swear (or affirm)…that I do not intend to vote at the primary election for the office for which this nominating petition is made.” The decision is only five pages, is unsigned, and will not be published. The decision simply declares that the plaintiffs had abandoned their challenge to this wording at the oral argument. There is no mention of any state interest in requiring this wording on the petition.

Here is the decision in Libertarian Party of Minnesota v Simon, 20-2244.

The decision also upholds some other characteristics of the law. The Libertarians had argued that the whole petition process is discriminatory because whereas voting is secret, petition signatures are not. The party had also argued that the process is discriminatory because voters can cast postal ballots, whereas petitions must be circulated in person. But the court said that Minnesota allows anyone to download a blank petition form, sign it, and mail it in. The three judges on the case are Raymond Gruender, Morris Arnold, and David Stras.