On May 15, the Arizona Supreme Court voted 6-1 to deny any petitioning relief for statewide initiatives. See this story. The Court has not yet explained its reasoning.
The only hope for Arizona initiatives this year now rest in the Ninth circuit, in the lawsuit Arizonans for Fair Elections v Hobbs, 20-15719. That lawsuit has a telephone hearing Wednesday, May 20, at 9 a.m.
On May 15, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer modified the relief she had given petitioning candidates back on April 23. She moved the deadline from August 7 to July 20, after the state told her in a request for reconsideration that it could not cope with a deadline as late as August 7.
The state also had wanted her to change the petition requirement from 10% of the legal requirement, to 25%, but she denied that. The state had wanted her to move the deadline to July 6, but she didn’t do that either. Libertarian Party of Illinois v Pritzker, n.d., 1:20cv-2112.
The Anchorage Daily News has this story about the independent candidates and also the unqualified parties, both of whom will have a tough time getting on the ballot unless relief is ordered by a court. The story says the Alaska Libertarian Party is preparing a lawsuit.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Colorado and Washington presidential elector cases on May 13. The attorney for the Washington state electors, Lawrence Lessig, here share his thoughts about the oral argument.
On May 14, the Pennsylvania Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties filed a federal lawsuit over ballot access. The Complaint asks that the state permit the three parties to place their nominees on the November ballot without any petitions. It points out that they all petitioned statewide in 2016, and the Green and Libertarian Parties also petitioned statewide in 2018. Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania v Wolf, e.d., 5:20cv-2299. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Edward G. Smith, an Obama appointee.
