Ninth Circuit Considers Rehearing Alaska Campaign Finance Case

Posted on by September 7, 2021
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On July 30, the Ninth Circuit struck down Alaska’s $500 campaign contribution limit in Thompson v Hebdon, 17-35019. On August 20, the court asked both sides to file briefs on whether the case should receive a hearing en banc. The briefs are due September 10. Thanks to the Institute for Free Speech for this news. The original decision on July 30 had been 2-1.

This case is very old. Originally the Ninth Circuit had upheld the limit, and then the U.S. Supreme Court had sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit with instructions to rehear it. Another issue in the case is the Alaska law that says candidates may only receive a small amount of donations from individuals who live outside Alaska.

Democratic Nominee for Mayor of Buffalo Files Notice of Appeal in New York Ballot Access Case

Posted on by September 7, 2021
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On September 7, India B. Walton, Democratic nominee for Mayor of Buffalo, filed a notice of appeal to the Second Circuit in Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections. This is the lawsuit over the constitutionality of the May petition deadline for independent candidates, passed by the New York legislature in 2019. The U.S. District Court had enjoined that deadline.

Walton is an intervenor in the case. The Erie County Board of Elections hasn’t decided yet whether to appeal, but will decide this afternoon.

Filing for Canadian Election Closes

Posted on by September 6, 2021
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On September 3, filing for the Canadian parliamentary election closed. The election was called on August 15 and will be on September 20. Parties with candidates in over half the 338 districts are: Liberal 338; Conservative 337; New Democratic 338; Green 252; People’s 312.

See this wikipedia article. Scroll down to the bottom. The “results” chart has this information.

Candidates need 100 signatures and a filing fee of $1,000.

New York Bill to Give Parties More Control Over Nominations Process Passed Almost Three Months Ago, but is Still Unsigned

Posted on by September 6, 2021
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The New York legislature passed S 7191 on June 10, 2021. It does not permit write-in candidates in partisan primaries unless the write-in candidate is a member of that party. This bill is generally only relevant to small qualified parties, and is supported by them, because they tend to dislike having non-members seize a party nomination against the wishes of the party.

Even though it passed the legislature on June 10, it still hasn’t received any action from the Governor of New York. However, it is not too unusual for their to be a very long time lag in New York between a bill passing the legislature and being acted on by the Governor.