On May 27, the Denver District Court, a state trial court in Colorado, ruled that the Governor’s order permitting electronic signatures for initiatives does not violate the state constitution. Ritchie v Polis, 2020cv-31708. The case had been filed by opponents of an initiative.
On May 28, the Alabama Libertarian Party filed this brief in its lawsuit over the list of registered voters. The Alabama Secretary of State gives the list free to the qualified parties, but it wants approximately $35,000 from any other political party that wants the list. Libertarian Party of Alabama v Merrill, m.d., 2:19cv-69.
In 1970, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a decision (Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller) that said if the government gives a free list of the voters to the qualified parties, it must give the list free to unqualified parties who are petitioning to be on the ballot. Because U.S. Supreme Court decisions are binding on the entire nation, this should have settled the matter. But the Alabama Secretary of State is fiercely fighting the lawsuit anyway. The Secretary of State claims the Libertarian Party is not a bona fida party because it is not on the ballot. But, of course, the reason it is not on the ballot is because of the state’s draconian ballot access laws. If the Libertarian Party had the list, that would help it in its ballot access efforts.
The 2020 Libertarian vice-presidential nominee desires to be listed on November ballots as Jeremy “Spike” Cohen. Much of the publicity about him, since he was nominated, only referred to him by his nickname.
On May 27, the Lousiana legislature passed HB 167. It extends the deadline for qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees from August 18 to August 25.
On May 4, proponents of a Michigan initiative filed a federal lawsuit to gain relief from the May 27 petition deadline. They have several hundred thousand signatures but still need another 100,000, and the deadline was May 27. The initiative concerns restoring credit to prisoners for good time, to shorten a sentence. That was the policy before 1998, but an initiative that year eliminated credit for good time.
The case is Sawari Media LLC v Whitmer, e.d., 4:20cv-11246. There will be a hearing in early June. Here is the Complaint. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Leitman, an Obama appointee. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
