U.S. District Court Judge Susan Nelson will hold oral argument in Pavek v Simon, 0:19cv-3000, on Tuesday, April 24, at 9:30 a.m. This is the Democratic Party lawsuit challenging the law that determines the order of candidates on the general election ballot. The hearing will be by video conference. Individuals who hope to watch are instructed to telephone the clerk of the court to learn how to do that.
On April 3, the Illinois Libertarian and Green PArties filed this motion for preliminary injunction in their ballot access case. The motion makes the case that the U.S. District Court should order the State Board of Elections to put those parties on the ballot, because the health crisis has made it impossible to collect a substantial number of signatures.
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.
