August 3 at noon was the Arkansas deadline for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties. According to this story, Kanye West submitted his petition only 45 minutes before the deadline. The requirement is 1,000 signatures.
The Illinois State Board of Elections is still trying to eliminate all the ballot access relief ordered by a U.S. District Court on April 23. On August 3, it filed a reply brief in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Cadigan, 20-1961. The brief says, “If the Board prevails in this appeal, it will have the authority to disqualify candidates who did not meet the statutory requirements for ballot access”, which presumably even includes the Libertarian and Green nominees for President and U.S. Senate. Of course at this point it would be too late for them, or any candidates, to file new petitions.
The state’s reply brief includes a list of candidates who filed to be on the 2020 ballot for federal and state office. The list is not final because over half the petitioning minor party and independent candidates have been challenged. Many of them will be removed. But even if none of the candidates for whom an objection is pending are removed, the Illinois November ballot will be woefully undercrowded, not overcrowded. If none of the candidates is removed, there will still be fewer than two candidates in the average Illinois legislative race.
Out of 140 legislative races, the number of legislative candidates will be, at most, 236. That means the average legislative race will have 1.7 candidates. In the 18 U.S. House races, there would be 41 candidates, for an average of 2.3 candidates per race. There would be no U.S. House race with more than three candidates. There would be no legislative race with more than three candidates, except possibly there would be four candidates for State Representative, 100th district.
For president, assuming the U.S. District order survives, there would be either six or seven candidates, depending on whether Kanye West’s petition is valid or not. For U.S. Senate, there would be five candidates. By contrast, in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, there were 12 candidates.
Yet the state says the District Court order must be reversed “so that the voters will not be faced with a laundry list ballot”. It says, “Effectively removing all limitations overwhelms the ballot, creates unnecessary hurdles for viable candidates, and results in voter confusion.”
On June 21, the Seventh Circuit refused to stay the U.S. District Court order, but it did expedite the state’s appeal. The identity of the three judges handling this case is unknown.
This story says at the bottom that ten presidential candidates filed by the August 3 deadline. Vermont waived all petition requirements this year, and there is no filing fee. Presumably there will be more than ten, because the qualified parties have yet to file their slates.
On August 3, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a unanimous ruling in Brady v State Ballot Law Commission, SJC-12979. The Court explained why Helen Brady, Republican candidate for U.S. House, 9th district, should be on the September 1 primary ballot. She submitted more than the needed 1,000 signatures of registered Republicans and registered independents. All of her signatures were electronic. But they didn’t follow precisely the new directions for electronic signatures that the same court had approved in April 2020. The Ballot Law Commission had removed her from the ballot, but on July 10, the Court had put her back, without explanation. The August 3 decision explains the reasoning.
The decision has very good general language about ballot access. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On August 3, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Torresen held a status conference in Jorgensen v Dunlap, 1:20cv-272. This case asks for ballot access relief in Maine for the Libertarian Party presidential nominee. The state’s brief is due August 10 and any reply is due the next day. A decision is likely by the middle of August.
The Secretary of State will announce on Friday, August 7, whether Jorgensen has enough signatures. If she does, the case will be moot.
