On May 14, the Arizona Supreme Court removed Republican candidate Kim Owens from the August 4 primary ballot, so that the Republicans will only have two nominees for the three seats, unless Owens or some other Republican can obtain at least 6,663 write-ins in the primary. Branch v Owens, cv-20-0134. Thanks to Richard Grayson for this news. Here is the order.
on May 19, the Second Circuit issued an order, agreeing with the U.S. District Court that the New York state government must hold the June 23 presidential primary. The three judges say they will explain their reasoning later. New York was already set to hold its primary for office other than president on June 23. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.
On May 18, the independent candidates who are seeking ballot access relief in Arkansas filed this reply brief. Whitfield v Thurston, e.d., 4:20cv-466. The lead plaintiff, Dan Whitfield, needed 10,000 signatures by May 1. He and the other candidates (the other candidates are running for district office) argue that if it hadn’t been for the health crisis, they would have been able to complete their petition requirements.
On May 15, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order, permitting electronic signatures for initiatives. See this story. The order does not apply to candidate petitions.
On May 15, the Virginia Constitution Party, the Virginia Green Party, and an independent U.S. House candidate filed a federal lawsuit against Virginia petition requirements. Constitution Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, e.d., 3:20cv-349. It asks that the petition requirements be declared unconstitutional due to the health crisis. Here is the Complaint.
UPDATE: here is a newspaper story about the lawsuit.
Virginia requires presidential candidates to file 5,000 signatures by August 21, and congressional candidates to file by June 15. The state normally sets the independent non-presidential petition deadline on primary day, but this year the state moved the primary to June 23 but did not even bother to also extend the petition deadline.
The lawsuit includes a Green Party nominee for U.S. House. U.S. House candidates need 1,000 signatures.
The lawsuit is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney, an Obama appointee. Thanks to Carey Campbell for the news.
