On July 17, the proponents of an Oregon statewide initiative filed this brief in the Ninth Circuit. People Not Politicians v Clarno, 20-35630. The U.S. District Court had granted ballot access relief for initiatives. This brief argues that the Ninth Circuit should not stay the U.S. District Court order.
Meanwhile, a similar case from Idaho will be argued on August 10, in a Ninth Circuit courtroom in Anchorage, Alaska. Reclaim Idaho v Little, 20-35584.
On July 21, the Third Circuit expedited the minor party ballot access lawsuit, Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania v Wolf, 20-2481. This is the case in which the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties ask for ballot access relief due to the health crisis. The U.S. District Court had denied all relief and had even written there is a state interest in keeping minor parties off the ballot so that the voters can concentrate to a larger extent on the major party nominees.
Here is the opening brief filed by the parties. The state’s response is due July 24; the reply brief is due July 26.
On July 20, the deadline for minor party and independent petitions in Illinois, five petitions were submitted for president: Kanye West as an independent; Kyle Kopitke as an independent; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; the Constitution Party; and the American Solidarity Party.
UPDATE: the petition for Don Blankenship for President has been removed from the Illinois State Board of Elections list, almost certainly becaues it did not have at least 250 signatures. Illinois State Board of Elections officials, for several years now, have been automatically rejecting petitions that don’t have at least 10% of the requirement. The requirement this year for president is 2,500 signatures.
Here is the list of petitioning candidates from the State Board of Elections. The list will be amended later to list the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian candidates for president, and the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate. They didn’t need to petition.
The Constitution Party petition for U.S. Senate, for Chad Koppie, is listed. All of the petitions are subject to challenge. The challenge must be filed no later than Monday, July 27. For U.S. House, the only minor party that submitted any petitions is the Libertarian Party, which has three candidates. The Green Party candidate listed for the Fifth District did not need to petition. There are three independents for U.S. House.
On July 20, U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett, a Bush Jr. appointee, cut the number of signatures for Maryland independent candidates by 50%. Ivey v Lamone, 1:20cv-1995. Here is the three-page order. The state agreed to this outcome.
The plaintiff, Amber Ivey, is an independent candidate for U.S. House, 7th district. The original requirement for her was 5,067, but now she needs 2,534 signatures. The deadline is August 3.
On July 20, Arkansas filed this brief in the Eighth Circuit, arguing against ballot access relief for Dan Whitfield, independent U.S. Senate candidate.
