On May 17, out-of-state petitioners filed their Reply Brief in Benezet v Boockvar, 20-2976. This is the case against the Pennsylvania ban on out-of-state circulators for primary petitions. Pennsylvania already permits out-of-state circulators for general election petitions.

In this case, the U.S. District Court had declared the primary election ban unconstitutional, but she wrote the decision so that it only applies to the particular plaintiffs who filed the case. So the appeal, filed by the petitioners, aims to persuade the Third Circuit that the ban is unconstitutional for any future out-of-state circulators.

On May 17, U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) issued a joint letter, endorsing the idea of reviving the federal voting rights Act’s preclearance provision. That idea would require all states to pre-clear election law changes with the U.S. Justice Department.

The preclearance portion of the Federal Voting Rights Act was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court some years ago, on the grounds that the criteria for determining which states had to pre-clear election law changes was arbitrary and depended on very old evidence. The new idea would treat all states equally.

The Voting Rights Act pre-clearance provision, while it was in effect, was somewhat helpful to minor party and independent candidate ballot access. For example, in 1966, the Justice Department refused to pre-clear a Mississippi law that raised the number of signatures for statewide independent candidates from 1,000 to 10,000 signatures. Also in 1982 the Justice Department told Alabama that it could not raise the vote test for parties from zero to 20% if the change was going to be made effective immediately. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news about the Manchin-Murkowski letter. Those two Senators do not support HR 1, the Democratic Party’s election law bill that injures minor party ballot access.

The New York Libertarian Party has issued this press release, concerning the denial of injunctive relief against the 2020 New York ballot access changes.