On June 24, a Fulton County, Georgia Superior Court issued this four-page order in Favorito v Fulton County, 2020cv-343938. The case concerns plaintiffs desire to examine the Fulton County absentee ballots from November 2020. Here is a news story about the decision.
On June 24, the Arizona Supreme Court finally explained why it had invalidated Kanye West’s independent presidential petition in 2020. Clayton v West, cv-20-0249. Here is the eight-page opinion.
The petition was invalid because West’s nominees for presidential elector did not file statements of interest, a form that did not exist until it was created in 2019. The Arizona Supreme Court did not mention the fact that the Secretary of State’s website, which has detailed instructions for candidates of all types, never said that candidates for presidential elector must file this form. The Court simply said, the law requires candidates of almost all kinds to file such statements, and West’s electors did not, so he was properly kept off the ballot.
The Court did reject the other argument against West, that he could not be an independent presidential candidate because he was a registered Republican in his home state of Wyoming.
From now on, all candidates for presidential elector in Arizona are on notice that they must file a statement of interest. The statement of interest is to indicate that the applicant intends to be a candidate in the upcoming election, and provides contact information. The form does not ask about campaign finance. An earlier version of this post said that it is a campaign finance document, but it is not.
On June 24, several high-ranking members of the Republican Party launched a new group, the Renew America Movement. The launch was made on a publicly-broadcast meeting that lasted 85 minutes. Participating were five former Republican members of Congress: Barbara Comstock of Virginia, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, Charles Djou of Hawaii, Denver Riggleman of Virginia, and Joe Walsh of Illinois.
The group seems to be planning to recruit congressional candidates to run in Republican primaries in 2022. They suggested that in certain districts, they might also run independent candidates.
The name of the organization seems similar to the Serve America Movement. The Serve America Movement, called SAM for short, is committed to building a new party, and is headed by David Jolly, a former Republican congressman from Florida.
Other participants in the RAM meeting were Michael Steele, a former national chair of the Republican Party; Christy Todd Whitman, former Republican Governor of New Jersey; Bill Weld, former Republican Governor of Massachusetts and the 2016 Libertarian Party vice-presidential nominee; and Evan McMullin, independent presidential candidate in 2016.
Maine bill LD 1061 has passed the legislature. Governor Janet Mills didn’t sign it, but she didn’t veto it either, so it is now law. It somewhat eases the means for a party to remain ballot-qualified. The old law said it had to have at least 10,000 registered members who actually went to the polls in November, in order to remain on. The new law says it must have 10,000 registered members on general election day, but it doesn’t matter how many of them go to the polls.
Also the bill says a party also remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% for Governor or President at either of the last two elections.
The bill started out by making it easier for a new party to become ballot-qualified, but that part of the bill was amended out. It originally cut the 5,000-registered members provision to 2,500.
If LD 1061 had been in effect in 2016, the Maine Libertarian Party would have been ballot-qualified in 2020, because Gary Johnson, the 2016 presidential nominee, received 5.09%.
On June 24, the New Hampshire passed HB 98, which moves the non-presidential primary from September to August. It also moves the petition deadlines for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from August to July. And it moves the deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to file a declaration of candidacy from June to May. Even presidential candidates must file such documents, so the bill in effect forces unqualified parties to choose their presidential nominees earlier than Memorial Day.
Fortunately, Governor Chris Sununu has virtually said he will veto the bill. The House vote was very close, 192-183, so it is extremely unlikely that the legislature could override a veto. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.
