On April 3, the U.S. Supreme Court said it won’t hear any oral arguments in April. The Court did not say when it will hear the cases that had been set for April. Nor has the Court yet said when it will hear the March cases. Here is the Court’s announcement.
Among the cases that were to be argued in April were the two presidential elector cases, from Washington and Colorado. They had been set for April 28.
On April 2, the Federal Election Commission put out a new chart, showing primaries for federal office, and filing deadlines for candidates. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
At least 42 Democratic and Republican candidates for partisan office in Florida have asked the Governor and Secretary of State to waive filing fees. Florida has the highest filing fees, by far, of any state. Candidates for congress need over $10,000. Florida has procedures for petitions in lieu of filing fees, but the health crisis has made petitioning very difficult. See this story.
On April 2, the Florida Secretary of State issued an emergency proclamation deleting the requirement that only original petition signatures can be submitted for verification. In Florida, candidate petitions are one-signature forms. Presumably this means that candidates can submit photocopies. The rule change does not appear to allow electronic signatures, although this is not clear.
On April 2, proponents for four statewide initiatives in Arizona filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court, asking that initiative petitions be permitted to collect electronic signatures. Arizona already permits electronic signatures on petitions for candidates. See this story.
On April 2, the Illinois Libertarian and Green Parties filed a federal lawsuit to gain ballot access relief for 2020. Libertarian Party of Illinois v Pritzker, n.d., 1:20cv-2112. Here is the Complaint. UPDATE: the case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Charles Norgle, a Reagan appointee. Although he has been a federal judge since 1984, it does not appear that he has ever before had a constitutional ballot access case.
