On November 13, the Montana Green Party filed this reply brief in the Ninth Circuit in Montana Green Party v Stapleton, 20-35340. This is the 2018 lawsuit against the unequal Montana distribution requirement for the petition to recognize a new party. The law requires a varying number of signatures from each of 34 state house districts. The districts are all approximately equal in population, yet the law requires 55 signatures from some districts and 150 in other districts, and varying numbers in-between for still other districts.

Unequal distribution requirements for statewide petitions are unconstitutional under a 1969 U.S. Supreme Court opinion, Moore v Ogilvie, and such unequal distribution requirements have been struck down over the years in Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.

California had two statewide ballot measures on the ballot this month that relate to voter eligibility. Proposition 17 passed. It lets individuals on parole register to vote, and passed with 59%. Proposition 18 failed. It would have let individuals who will be age 18 at the time of the general election also register and vote in the preceding primary. In presidential years there is eight months between the primary and the general election, so if it had passed, in presidential years over half of all 17-year-olds would have been able to vote in primaries.

Here are the election returns. They are not complete but the margins for those two measures are so overwhelming, it is possible to predict the outcome.

Alaska still has many postal ballots to count, and as of the evening of November 12, the vote is virtually tied. See the results here. The postal ballots have been much more favorable to Measure Two than the other ballots.

The measure makes it likely that minor party candidates will never qualify for the November ballot for Governor, U.S. Senator, or U.S. House. But it makes it easier for members of unqualified parties to get on the ballot for the legislature, because generally in legislative races there are only two or three candidates who file in the primary. And no one will need a petition to get on the primary ballot.

The measure also institutes ranked choice voting in the general election, but not the primary. The ranked choice voting in the general election extends to the presidential race.