On June 25, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa, an Obama appointee, dismissed the lawsuit Mecinas v Hobbs, 2:19cv-5547, on standing grounds. This is the lawsuit in which various elements of the Democratic Party challenge the Arizona law on order of candidates on the general election ballot. The ruling says none of the plaintiffs have standing. There were no candidate-plaintiffs in this lawsuit. Here is the decision.

The existing law says within each county, the nominees of the party that polled the highest vote for Governor should be listed first. In 2018, the Republican nominee for Governor in eleven of the fifteen counties polled the highest vote, so in 2020 all Republican nominees will be listed first in eleven counties. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.

On June 25, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this brief in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Wilhem, 20-3585. This is the challenge to the Ohio law that does not permit members of any party, other than the two largest parties, from serving on the Ohio Elections Commission. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law.

On June 22, the Minnesota Libertarian Party appealed its ballot access case to the Eighth Circuit. Libertarian Party of Minnesota v Choi, 20-2244. The issues are the two-week petitioning period for non-presidential independent candidate petitions, and the language of the petition that says the signer does not expect to vote in the primary for the particular office that the petition deals with. The U.S. District Court had upheld both laws.