Georgia State Senator Brandon Beach attended a special session of the legislature on March 16 even though he had some symptoms of the corona virus. Later he tested positive, so the entire legislature has been sent home and legislators must quarantine themselves. See this story.
On March 19, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order permitting candidate petitions to be gathered and filed electronically.
No candidate in New Jersey ever needs more than 1,000 signatures. Statewide primary candidates need 1,000; general election statewide candidates need 800 signatures. District petitions never exceed 100 signatures.
The directions should soon be on the New Jersey Department of State’s website. Here is the Governor’s proclamation.
Nick Sarwark, national chair of the Libertarian Party, was on MSNBC on March 17. The host of the interview seemed to think that the Libertarian Party is on the ballot already in all 50 states. Actually it is now on for president in 35 states plus D.C. The host asked how the party will hold a nominating convention, but Sarwark steered the conversation around to ballot access petitioning. He said that the party has already asked Illinois state officials to suspend the need for ballot access petitions, given the health dangers of petitioning. Here is a link; go to the 1 minute 39 second mark to hear Sarwark.
Thus, Sarwark educated some MSNBC viewers that among the other election administration problems, petitioning is also a problem that ought to be addressed. Most election administration experts who appear on media interviews have not discussed this problem so far.
On March 18, the Minnesota Supreme Court explained why it denied injunctive relief to Rocky De La Fuente on January 9, 2020. De La Fuente had sued to overturn the new law that says political parties may decide which presidential candidates to list on that party’s presidential primary ballot. De La Fuente wanted to run in the Republican presidential primary, and the Minnesota Republican Party had chosen to list only President Donald Trump.
Here is the 32-page opinion in De La Fuente v Simon, A19-1994. The most important part of the decision occupies the last nine pages. It takes an expansive view of political party associational rights, and says freedom of association means that parties can refuse to associate with unwanted candidates. There is nothing in this decision that limits this idea to just a party’s presidential primary. The state would now be free to also say that the principle applies to all partisan primaries.
On March 19, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont postponed the Connecticut presidential primary from April 28 to June 2.
