The Connecticut Libertarian Party ballot access case is pending in the Second Circuit. Libertarian Party of Connecticut v Lamont, 20-2179. The case includes a mixture of issues related to petitioning in the health crisis, and issues that are separate. On July 24 the Secretary of State asked the Second Circuit not to expedite the case. See the state’s brief here.
The Alliance Party is now ballot-qualified in Mississippi. In that state, a group becomes a qualified party by submitting a list of party officers. Mississippi has had that law ever since 1890, when the state first instituted government-printed ballots. Mississippi is the only state that has never changed its original definition of a qualified party.
On April 2, 2020, the New York ballot access law drastically changed. The number of signatures for a statewide independent, or the nominee of an unqualified party, was raised from 15,000 to 45,000 signatures. The vote test was changed from 50,000 for Governor, to a requirement that a party pass the vote test every two years, for the office at the top of the ticket (president in some years, governor in the other election years). The number of votes went to the greater of 130,000 or 2% of the vote cast.
The Working Families Party then sued to overturn the new requirements. Here is the party’s reply reply brief, filed July 24.
On July 23, the New Mexico Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit against the Secretary of State for refusing to provide an accurate count of write-ins in the party’s June 2 primary. The party’s choice for State Appeals Court, Stephen P. Curtis, needed 230 write-ins in order to advance to the November election. The state canvass credited him with only 204, but the party has evidence that many of his write-ins weren’t counted.
Here is the Complaint in Curtis v Oliver, 1:20cv-748. When the party complained about the inaccurate tally, it was told that it needed to pay $3,573,400 for a recount of the approximately 1,500 Libertarian primary ballots cast. Here is a news story about the lawsuit.
As long ago as 1915, federal courts have recognized that the U.S. Constitution protects a voter’s right to have his or her vote counted. Some of the plaintiffs in the case are voters whose votes weren’t counted.
on the evening of Friday, July 24, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to get involved in an appeal by a church against the Nevada rules for gatherings during the health crisis. Calvary Chapen Dayton Valley v Sisolak, 19A1070. Here is the one-sentence order, accompanied by some dissents. The vote was 5-4.
This is the second time the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to alter shutdown rules. The first was in May, and also involved a church.
This is relevant to ballot access law because there are so many ballot access cases pending that relate to the health crisis. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
