On December 31, U.S. District Court Lance E. Walker issued an order in Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509. The order puts the Libertarian Party on the ballot for the 2022 election. It allows Libertarians who want to get on the June Libertarian primary ballot to collect nomination signatures from independent voters as well as Libertarian registrants.

Primary petitions require 2,000 signatures for Governor, so it still won’t be easy for Libertarians to get on the Libertarian primary ballot for Governor, because the only voters who can sign will be about one-third of the electorate. U.S. House candidates need 1,000 signatures. But it will be easy for Libertarians running for the legislature to get on the Libertarian primary ballot, because State Senate candidates need 100 signatures and State House candidates need 25.

Maine doesn’t have a U.S. Senate election in 2022, and doesn’t elect any statewide officers other than Governor.

The order does not apply to the Green Party, because the Green Party was not a plaintiff nor an intervenor in the lawsuit. It seems somewhat likely that the Secretary of State will extend this relief on primary petitions to the Green Party. If not, presumably the Green Party will sue.

The order also instructs election officials to contact all voters who were registered Libertarians in 2018, and who were converted to independents when the party went off the ballot. The postal letter will explain that the voter had been unlawfully converted from a Libertarian to an independent, and will ask that voter to return a postage-paid form if the voter wants to regain membership in the Libertarian Party.

The Secretary of State is not required to reprint any voter registration forms to list the party as a choice. But whenever the Secretary prints new cards, they must include the Libertarian Party. The Secretary of State’s on-line registration form will be immediately changed to list the Libertarians as a choice.

On December 30, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed the bills to redistrict the state’s U.S. House and legislative districts. He waited until almost the last day to do that. A few minutes after he signed the bills, a federal lawsuit was filed challenging the new legislative district boundaries. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity v Raffensperger, case number not assigned yet. Check back here tomorrow for a link to the Complaint, which alleges a racial gerrymander.

The petitioning period for independent candidates and the nominees of parties that didn’t poll 20% for President in the entire U.S., or Governor, opens in two weeks, but if there is uncertainty about the district boundaries, candidates can’t start to petition. The petition deadlines are in mid-July.

As previously noted, in November 2021, a U.S. District Court in Maine struck down two ballot access laws that bar minor parties from the ballot, in a case filed in 2019 by the Libertarian Party. But the judge has not yet ruled on injunctive relief.

On December 29, the party filed a letter with the court, mentioning precedents from other states that say when a ballot access law is declared unconstitutional in a lawsuit filed by a minor party, it is normal for the court to then put that party on the ballot. Here is the four-page letter, which includes three U.S. Supreme Court precedents, won by the American Independent Party in Ohio in 1968, the National Democratic Party in Alabama in 1968, and the Harold Washington Party in Illinois in 1990. The National Democratic Party of Alabama, despite its name, was a minor party not affiliated with the Democratic Party. The letter includes precedents from lower courts as well.