This newspaper story says the contested U.S. House race in New York’s 22nd district turns on whether about 70 voters should have their ballots counted. They registered to vote on time, at the Motor Vehicles office. But the county didn’t process their applications in time because the County Board of Elections was overwhelmed with work. Thanks to Joe Burns for the link.
The National Conference of State Legislatures has this useful chart showing when each state’s legislature convenes in 2021. People who care about ballot access in their own state should be now seeking legislators willing to introduce bills to improve the ballot access laws, especially in states like Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, all states with major ballot access problems. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On January 11, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock, a Bush Jr.. appointee, declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order blocking the Maine ban on initiative petitioners who don’t live in Maine and aren’t registered in Maine. We the People PAC v Bellows, 1:20cv-489.
The judge wrote, “Even though the plaintiffs raised serious legal issues, because the caselaw in this area is nuanced, because the plaintiffs failed to provide a sufficient uncontested factual record, and because the plaintiffs delayed bringing this lawsuit, they failed to sustain their burden…Thus the Court dismisses without prejudice the motion for a temporary restraining order.” The issue of the law’s constitutionality will proceed, but in the meantime the initiative proponents who brought the lawsuit won’t have any immediate relief. See the 46-page order.
Last year, the Democratic Party sued Arizona over its law that determines the order of candidates on the November ballot. The law says the party that won the gubernatorial vote should have all its nominees listed first, within any particular county. Because the Republicans won the 2018 gubernatorial election in almost all of Arizona’s counties, Republicans were listed first in 2020, and will again be listed in 2022, in almost all counties, unless the law is changed.
In the Ninth Circuit, the case is Mecinas v Hobbs, 20-0249. The Democrats failed to get injunctive relief in 2020. The U.S. District Court said that laws on the order of candidates on the ballot cannot be heard in federal court, because “fair” ballot order is inherently ambiguous. That is an absurd conclusion. Obviously a law that provides for random decisions about order of candidates is fair. Another fair method is rotation of names from one geographical unit to the next.
The opening brief is due in the Ninth Circuit on March 18, 2021.
On September 8, 2020, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a short order in West v Clayton, CV-20-0249, saying Kanye West could not be on the Arizona November ballot as an independent candidate for president because his candidates for presidential elector had not filed statements of Economic Interest. The Court said it would explain its reasoning later.
Four months have passed, and the court still hasn’t issued its explanation. It will probably be very difficult for the Arizona Supreme Court to explain its action. No one ever before had interpreted the Arizona law to mean that candidates for presidential elector must file campaign finance documents. No other state has ever required candidates for presidential elector to file campaign finance statements. The Arizona Secretary of State’s website has very clear instructions for independent presidential candidates and the Secretary of State’s website had never said that presidential elector candidates must file such documents.
