On June 8, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit, seeking ballot access relief. Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Sununu, 1:20cv-688. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante, a Bush Jr. appointee. Here is the Complaint.
On June 8, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker refused injunctive relief to the Independent Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Their lawsuit is still alive, but they won’t get any relief for the 2020 election, unless they successfully appeal the denial of injunctive relief. Independent Party of Florida v Lee, n.d., 4:20cv-110. The relief they seek is to be on the Florida ballot for president in 2020.
Injunctive relief can’t be granted unless the judge feels it is clear that the law will be held unconstitutional, and the judge wrote that there is still doubt about the constitutionality. Here is the 21-page order.
On June 8, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker issued a two-page order in Independent Party of Florida v Lee, n.d., 4:20cv-110. This is the case filed by the Independent Party of Florida, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, against a Florida law on presidential ballot access. The law, passed in 2011, says that even though a party is ballot-qualified in Florida, it can’t be on for president unless it submits a petition of 132,781 signatures by July 15, or unless it is recognized by the Federal Election Commission as a national committee. The FEC will never give national committee status to a new party, so the law discriminates against new parties.
There was a hearing on June 4, so this is a quick response from the judge. The order says the case needs to develop facts before it can be decided.
On Saturday, June 6, Illinois filed a notice of appeal to the Seventh Circuit in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Pritzker, n.d., 1:20cv-2112. The appeal is against last month’s decision by the U.S. District Court on reconsideration. The state had asked for reconsideration in the U.S. District Court. The U.S. District Court Judge had refused to change her April 23 order that cut the number of signatures down to one-tenth of the usual number. But she did change the deadline from August 7 to July 20. The state apparently wants an even earlier deadline. If the Seventh Circuit were to change the deadline to an earlier deadline, that would violate many precedents that say making restrictive changes in the middle of the process violates due process. Thanks to Sam Cahnman for this news.
Before 1999, Illinois had an August deadline for minor party and independent candidate petitions. One wonders what has changed since 1999, to make the state feel it can’t even tolerate a deadline as late as July. This year, four states have a September 4 petition deadline for independent presidential candidates.
According to this news story, Jim Dabakis, former state chair of the Utah Democratic Party, has switched his registration to Republican so that he can vote in the June 30, 2020 Republican primary. Dabakis wants Jon Huntsman to win that primary.
