On June 7, Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, signed SB 15. It provides that all active registered voters will automatically receive a ballot in the mail. Vermont used that system in 2020 but it was under a law that said it was only temporary. But now it is in place for all future elections.
Various California newspapers are now reporting that Superior Court Judge James P. Arguelles, who granted more time for the gubernatorial recall petition last November due to the health crisis, was formerly a law firm colleague of the attorney for the recall committee, Bradley Benbrook. The story interviews experts on legal ethics, who say that this is not necessarily a problem, although many expressed the opinion that the judge could have at least acknowledged the relationship before he ruled, and could have asked if either side had any objections. See the story here.
California judges, both federal and state, were inconsistent during 2020 on whether the health crisis justified extending ballot access relief. The Common Sense Party asked for relief in both federal and state court, but lost both cases. Two presidential candidates who tried to use the independent presidential petition procedure, Don Blankenship (Constitution Party) and Joseph Kishore (Socialist Equality Party) also asked for relief in federal courts in California but did not receive any relief.
By contrast, courts in D.C., Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia, all granted relief.
The Nebraska voter registration form lists all the qualified parties and gives each one its own check box. The Legal Marijuana Now Party is now on the form. At the June 1, 2021 registration tally, it had 194 members. The other June totals are: Republican 595,041; Democratic 359,656; Libertarian 18,101; independent and miscellaneous 269,321. Here is the tally by county.
On June 3, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, signed SB 292. It makes ballot access more difficult for new or previously unqualified parties. It moves the petition deadline to late April, and it imposes a severe distribution requirement.
Nevada has not had a successful petition to qualify a party since 2011. Nevada is one of only five states in which the Green Party presidential nominee did not appear on the ballot in either 2016 nor 2020. The bill seems motivated by a desire by Democrats that the Green Party not appear on the ballot in future elections. The Libertarian and Constitution Parties are already ballot-qualified in Nevada.
The Democratic Party is suing Arizona over ballot-order of candidates in general elections. The Arizona law says the nominees of the party that placed first in the last gubernatorial election (in any particular county) are all listed on the top line. In 2018, the Republican Party nominee for Governor placed first in eleven of Arizona’s fifteen counties, so in 2020 the Republican Party nominees for all offices were listed first in eleven counties. The Democratic Party argues that the Constitution requires a system that gives the Democratic Party an equal chance to be listed first in all counties.
On May 27, the state filed its brief in Mecinas v Hobbs, 20-16301. The state argues on page 58 that “there is no objective or rational way for the courts to define partisan fairness in the context of ballot-order placement.” This is an absurd statement. Obviously if a state either rotates the order of candidates so that each candidate has an equal chance to be listed first in the same number of precincts, or if the state holds a random drawing to determine order, that is objectively fair.
The state also says that lawsuits like this can’t be adjudicated because there are “political”, which is odd, because for fifty years courts have been adjudicating lawsuits on the constitutionality of laws that give some candidates an advantage in ballot ordering.
The Democratic Party injures its own case because it argues that the relief it seeks should not be available to minor party or independent candidates.
The party’s reply brief is due June 18.
