On April 30, Georgia filed this response in Cowen v Raffensperger, 1:17cv-4660. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party had challenged the number of signatures for U.S. House, for all candidates who are not the nominees of parties that polled 20% of the vote for president in the entire nation in the last election, or 20% for Governor of Georgia. On March 29 the U.S. District Court had struck down the 5% petition for U.S. House. The judge had then asked both sides for suggestions as to what the new requirements should be, until the legislature amends the law.
The plaintiffs had proposed 500 signatures, or payment of the filing fee, which is very high. In his April 30 response, the Secretary of State says that 500 is “astoundingly low” and “has never been tried.” This is not true. Before 1943, Georgia let independent candidates for U.S. House, and the nominees of unqualified parties, on the ballot with zero signatures and no filing fee, and the state never had a crowded ballot for U.S. House. In fact it never had a U.S. House election in the entire history of government-printed ballots with more than four candidates on the ballot. Georgia has only had government-printed ballots since 1922.
The statement is also false if it is meant to include other states. States that require 500 or fewer signatures for independent candidates for U.S. House are California (40), Florida (zero), Hawaii (25), Idaho (500), Kentucky (400), Louisiana (zero), Mississippi (200), Nevada (100), New Jersey (100), Oklahoma (zero), Rhode Island (500), Tennessee (25), Texas (500), Vermont (250) and Washington (zero).
