On May 17, a Missouri state trial court ruled against the Missouri Republican Party’s attempt to block Darrell McClanahan from its primary ballot. He is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The party wanted to block him because of his views. See this story. Missouri Republican Party v Secretary of State, Cole Circuit Court, 24AC-CC02151.
UPDATE: also see this story.
The Missouri legislature adjourned on May 17. House Bill 1412, which would have restricted ballot access, failed to advance and is now dead. It would have prevented anyone from running as a party candidate in a primary unless he or she had been registered in that party at least 23 weeks before the candidate filing period opens.
Although Missouri registration forms now allow individuals to register as a party member, there are currently no legal consequences for how anyone registers or doesn’t register. Missouri doesn’t have gather statistics on how many voters register into particular parties.
On May 17, a New Jersey state trial court declined to remove LaMonica McIver from the Democratic primary ballot in the 10th district. She had been challenged on the basis that all of her 1,081 signatures were collected by one individual in approximately 72 hours. The challenger said it was not possible that one person could have collected that many, but there was no proof presented in court that the petitioner didn’t collect them all. See this story.
An Illinois state trial court will hold another hearing on Tuesday, May 21, in Collazo v Illinois State Board of Elections, the case over the new Illinois law that deprives qualified political parties of their ability to nominate someone after the primary is over. The Republican Party, which filed the case, seeks a preliminary injunction against the new law. The Illinois Democratic Party is seeking to intervene in the case in support of the law.
At the first hearing in the case, on Friday, May 17, the judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order, but given the fast action coming up concerning a possible injunction, that point is moot.
On May 17, the Missouri legislature adjourned. SJR 74, which would have made it more difficult for constitutional initiatives to win, did not pass. The bill, a proposed constitutional amendment, would have said that constitutional initiatives need a majority of the vote statewide and also need to get a majority in over half the U.S. House districts.
