On June 1, some candidates for Roanoke, Virginia city council filed a lawsuit for ballot access relief. Roanoke has partisan city elections, and the plaintiffs are not the nominees of qualified parties. See this story. They ask for a reduction in the number of signatures from 125 to 50, and an extension of the June 9 petition deadline. The case is Alberto v City of Roanoke, CL20000997-00.
UPDATE: here is the Complaint.
On May 29, the Working Families Party filed a federal lawsuit against the definition of a qualified party that passed on April 1, 2020. Hurley v Kosinski, s.d., 1:20cv-4148. The new definition requires a party to pass the vote test every two years instead of every four years. Furthermore, the new vote test is much harder than the old vote test. The old vote test was 50,000 for Governor; the new test if 130,000 or 2% (whichever is more) for the office at the top of the ticket every two years. Here is the Complaint.
The case has not yet been assigned to a judge. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.
On June 1, the Ohio groups trying to get an initiative on the ballot asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the ruling of the U.S. District Court that had granted relief, and to lift the stay the Sixth Circuit had imposed on that relief. Thompson v DeWine. There is no case number yet. Here is the Supreme Court filing.
This is the first ballot access case involving the health crisis that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, the request for Sixth Circuit rehearing is still pending.
On May 1, U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough declined to grant ballot access relief to proponents of some local Illinois initiatives, because the petition deadline for local initiatives is August 3, and the Governor’s order for social distancing expired May 29. The ruling said the proponents would be free to get their signatures after the Governor’s order expired on May 29.
But on May 29, the Governor extended the social distancing order until June 28. So, on May 29, the proponents asked Judge Myerscough to re-open the case and grant relief. Bambenck v Althoff, c.d., 3:20cv-3107. Here is the request for reconsideration.
Ballot Access News
May 2020 – Volume 35, Number 12
| This issue was printed on purple paper. |
Table of Contents
