Illinois Ballot Access Case to Get New Judge

Posted on by August 24, 2021
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The oldest ballot access still pending in the trial court is the Illinois lawsuit against the 5% petition for independent candidates for U.S. House, Gill v Scholz, c.d., 3:16cv-3221. It was filed in 2016 by independent candidate David Gill. On August 25, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough issued an injunction putting him on the ballot. But on September 9, the Seventh Circuit stayed her decision, although it did not explain why. The order consisted of only one sentence.

Then, while the case was pending for declaratory relief before Judge Myerscough, another U.S. District Court Judge in the Central District of Illinois, Colin Bruce, lost all of his pending criminal caseload, because of an ethical lapse. The chief judge of the district then reassigned many civil cases to Judge Bruce, to give him some work. Among the reassigned cases was Gill v Scholz.

On December 18, 2018, Judge Bruce upheld the Illinois 5% petition for U.S. House, but he made some factual errors. On June 18, 2020, the Seventh Circuit noted the factual errors and send the case back to Judge Bruce.

On August 24, 2021, Judge Bruce recused himself from the case, without explaining why. So now the case will be assigned to another U.S. District Court Judge. Possibly it will go back to Judge Myerscough.

Mississippi Statewide Initiative Petition Launched, Even Though Initiative Process Is Defunct

Posted on by August 24, 2021
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According to this story, proponents of an initiative to allow early voting have begun their drive to collect signatures, even though earlier this year the Mississippi Supreme Court invalidated the statewide initiative process. The proponents of the initiative hope that the legislature will repair the initiative process, either in a special session this year, or in the regular session in 2022. The legislature can fix the problem if it wishes to. It could pass a law saying that for the purposes of the congressional district distribution requirement for initiatives, the five districts that existed in the past are to be used. The state election code still has the boundaries of the five congressional districts, even though the state only has four congressional districts. The boundaries of the current four districts were drawn by a court in 2001.

Buffalo Mayor’s Independent Petition is Challenged by His Democratic Opponent

Posted on by August 24, 2021
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On August 20, India B. Walton, Democratic Party nominee for Mayor of Buffalo, New York, in the November 2, 2021 election, challenged the independent petition of the incumbent Mayor, Byron Brown. It is likely that the Board will sustain the challenge. Then, the Mayor will sue to overturn the May petition deadline. The New York independent candidate deadline was changed in 2019 from August to May. The primary is in late June. There are multiple precedents that say independent candidate petition deadlines cannot be earlier than primary day, or at least they can’t be earlier than the day before the primary.

UPDATE: the Erie County Board of Elections will consider the Byron Brown petition on Friday, August 27, at 2 p.m.

Idaho Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Two Recent Laws that Injured Ballot Access for Initiatives

Posted on by August 24, 2021
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On August 23, the Idaho Supreme Court unanimously rejected two recent laws that handicap the ability of people to pass initiatives. Reclaim Idaho v Denney, 48734 and 48760. Here is the 55-page opinion, written by Justice Gregory Moeller.

The decision strikes down a 2021 law that required signatures of 6% of the registered voters in all 35 legislative districts in the state. The decision also strikes down a 2020 law that said no initiative can take effect until July 1 of the year following the election.

The decision uses strict scrutiny, and says that there is no compelling state interest in requiring signatures from all 35 legislative districts. Page 42 of the decision says, “This power (the initiative) is meaningless unless it is accessible.” Page 37 says, “There is simply no logical reason why a ballot proposition supported by 6% of the voters in 34 of the 35 legislative districts has not clearly established that it has statewide support.” The opinion also contains a history of the use of the statewide initiative throughout its existence, and points out that even under the old law, very few initiatives qualified in any one election year.

The decision held that one set of plaintiffs lacked standing, but another set did have standing. Justice John Stegner wrote separately to say that he thought all plaintiffs had standing, and that standing is generally more relaxed under state constitutions than under the U.S. Constitution. Justice Robyn Brody wrote separately to say that although she agrees with the holding, she would not have applied strict scrutiny, but rather a balancing test. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the news.