On June 3, the Alaska Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit, asking for ballot access relief for 2020 due to the health crisis. Alaska Libertarian Party v Fenumiai, 3:20cv-127. Here is the Complaint.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John W. Sedwick, a Bush Sr. appointee.
This is the first constitutional ballot access case ever filed in Alaska. Traditionally, minor party and independent candidates have sued in state court.
On June 2, the Eureka, California city council voted unanimously to ask voters if they want to use ranked choice voting for city office. And in a preliminary vote, the Albany, California city council moved closer to doing the same in that city.
U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross will hear Cooper v Raffensperger, 1:20cv-1312, on Tuesday, June 30, at 9:30 am. This is the ballot access case involving the health crisis. It should not be confused with Cowen v Raffensperger, which is not related to the health crisis.
Cooper v Raffensperger will decide whether the minor party and independent candidates in 2020 will get petitioning relief. That includes relief from the 7,500 petition requirement for president. That will affect the Green and Constitution Parties in particular, and possibly others.
On June 1, Ohio proponents of an initiative filed this reply brief in Thompson v DeWine, 20-3526. This is the case over ballot access relief. The U.S. District Court had granted relief, but the Sixth Circuit had reversed. The proponents have been seeking rehearing en banc.
On June 3, the Eleventh Circuit issued a 20-page opinion in Cowen v Georgia Secretary of State, 19-14065. It remands the case back to the U.S. District Court, and tells that Court to re-hear the case, this time evaluating the evidence. This case challenges the petition requirements for minor party nominees for U.S. House. The U.S. District Court had upheld them despite the evidence, believing that the 1971 Jenness v Fortson decision required that result. The Eleventh Circuit disagrees. The Eleventh Circuit says that there is an equal protection problem with the Georgia law that had not existed in 1971. Furthermore, when Jenness v Fortson was decided, there had been successful uses of the statewide petition in each of the two elections before Jenness had been filed. But in this case, there are no successful uses of the 5% petition for U.S. House since 1964, and none ever for a minor party candidate.
The decision is by Judge R. Lanier Anderson, and also signed by Judges Gerald Tjoflat and Adalberto Jordan.
