According to this story, Kanye West says he will run for President this year.
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Here is a news story about the Working Families Party of New Mexico, which recently got on the ballot.
The story lists the other qualified parties, except it forgets to say the Party for Socialism & Liberation is now also on the ballot.
On July 2, a California state trial court extended ballot access relief to two statewide initiatives. In Macarro v Padilla, Sacramento Superior Court Judge James P. Arguelles extended the deadline for an initiative related to sports gambling from July 20 to October 12. The initiative no longer hopes to be on the November 2020 ballot; instead it will hope to qualify for 2022. California law requires statewide initiatives to collect all their signatures within six months, but that law is now suspended for statewide initiatives that had collected a number of signatures equal to at least 25% of the legal requirement before the health crisis hit. This relief means that this particular initiative won’t have wasted all the resources it expended already. The judge suggested he might extend the deadline further in the future if the committee needs more time.
Here is the order in Macarro v Padilla, 34-2020-80003404.
The other initiative, involving plastics, had its deadline extended from July 6 to September 28. Sangiacomo v Padilla, 34-2020-80003413. As in the other case, the initiative backers do not expect to qualify for the 2020 ballot, but hope to qualify for 2022, and this similar order means their resources won’t have been wasted either. Thanks to AroundtheCapitol for the links.
On the afternoon of July 2, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to stay an order of a U.S. District Court in Alabama that had made it easier for people to vote absentee in three counties. People First of Alabama v Merrill, 19A1063.
The case only concerns the runoff primaries being held July 14. The U.S. District Court on June 15 had enjoined state laws that say when someone applies for an absentee ballot, he or she must enclose a copy of the voter’s ID, and also must have a statement signed either by two witnesses or a notary public. It is not necessarily easy for persons without a home printer to make photocopies, while businesses and libraries are closed down. On June 25, the Eleventh Circuit had refused the state’s request for a stay, but now the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed the U.S. District Court. The U.S. Supreme Court did not explain why it acted as it did. Here is the U.S. Supreme Court’s one-page order.
The lower courts had also suspended the state policy that does not permit curbside voting, and had said that if county election officials want to offer curbside voting, they may do so. That lower court ruling is also now not in effect.
On July 2, the Sixth Circuit issued an order in SawariMedia v Whitmer, 20-1594. This is the case over whether Michigan must give ballot access relief to initiative proponents. The U.S. District Court had said the state must either cut the number of signatures, or give substantially more time to finish the petition. Michigan asked for a stay, but the Sixth Circuit refused the state’s request.
The three judges were Eric L. Clay, a Clinton appointee; Alan E. Norris, a Reagan appointee; and Joan Larsen, a Trump appointee. Larsen was formerly on the Michigan Supreme Court.
The Sixth Circuit has been handling ballot access relief due to the health crisis differently in Michigan and Ohio. The difference is the attitude of the state government toward social distancing. Ohio had made a social-distancing exception for “First Amendment activity”; other states have not done this.