On July 12, an Alaska state trial court will hear oral argument in Kohlhaas v State, 3AN-20-09532. This is the case filed last year against the new Alaska election law that lets candidates appear on the general ballot with the party label, even though the party does not necessarily support them. The only political party in the lawsuit is the Alaskan Independence Party. However there are individual plaintiffs from other parties. See this story.
On June 23, a professional petitioning firm, and a PAC that wants to hire it, sued California over its 2019 law that classifies paid petitioners as employees instead of as independent contractors. Mobilize the Message v Bonta, c.d., 2:21cv-5115. Here is the 17-page Complaint.
The California law does not classify door-to-door salespersons as employees, nor individuals who delivery newspapers door-to-door, so the lawsuit points out that California is granting more freedom for commercial speech than for political speech. Thanks to the Free Speech Institute for this news.
Great Britain already has an Animal Welfare Party. On July 6, a Animal Welfare Party for the United States was founded at a meeting in Lavinia, Tennessee. Seven persons participated in the convention. Thanks to Dalton Herriott for this news. The party does not yet have a website.
The Libertarian Party national committee will choose a new national chair on Sunday, July 11. The committee is meeting by zoom. A new chair is needed because Joseph Bishop-Henchman resigned last month.
The Texas legislature opened its special session on Thursday, July 8, and on Saturday, July 10, held a lengthy hearing on SB 1-E, the bill to make it more difficult for individuals to cast a ballot. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
UPDATE: according to law professor Dan Tokaji, among many new changes and restrictions to the state’s electoral process, the bill would ban 24-hour voting and drive-through voting; prohibit election officials from proactively sending out absentee ballot applications to voters who have not requested them; add new voter identification requirements for voting by mail; limit third-party ballot collection; increase the criminal penalties for election workers who run afoul of regulations; and limit what assistance can be provided to voters.
