The Green Party of Maryland, and the Libertarian Party of Maryland, have issued this press release. Both parties are engaged in petitioning to get back on the ballot. They say the corona virus problem has made petitioning much more difficult, and ask the State Board of Elections to put them both on the ballot.
On March 3, Rocky De La Fuente filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, stating that his case is moot. The case had been filed to challenge the Minnesota law that gives parties the right to determine which candidates should appear on its presidential primary ballot. The Minnesota Republican Party had chosen to list only President Donald J. Trump. De La Fuente v Simon, 0:19cv-2995.
The state then filed a response, saying potentially the case is not moot, because the issue is capable of repetition in future elections, and ballot access cases don’t become moot just because the election is over. However, the state also said that if De La Fuente thinks that the case is moot, and because he said he will not run in presidential primaries in Minnesota in the future, then under those circumstances the case is moot.
De La Fuente also said in his brief that he wants to amend his complaint to challenge the residency requirement for presidential electors in the general election, but the state said that is an entirely new issue and Rocky should file a new lawsuit on that point.
On February 27, Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik voluntarily dismissed his case that challenges the California law that denies a party label to candidates for Congress and partisan state office if they are not members of a qualified party. Sadly, Mimi has a serious health problem that threatens his life. He is a registered Socialist. He had filed the lawsuit in 2015. The U.S. District Court had ruled against him without even permitting a trial. But the Ninth Circuit had reinstated the case. Discovery had been delayed, though, because of Soltysik’s personal situation.
The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means that any other member of an unqualified party who runs for partisan office can challenge the law.
Activists who want to recall Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, have gathered 21,678 signatures in the first two weeks of their drive. They need 71,252 and have several months to complete the drive. See this story.
The State Supreme Court will hear oral argument on March 25 on whether the recall petition meets the state constitutional requirements for recalls. The law requires that the recalled officer must have violated ethical standards. The court recently denied injunctive relief to the Governor, and that set the petition into circulation.
On March 10, the U.S. Supreme Court changed the oral argument for the two cases on presidential electors. The court had previous consolidated the Colorado and Washington cases. But it changed its mind, and there will separate oral arguments in each of the two cases. Each case will have an hour of argument, on April 28.
Also, Justice Sonia Sotomayor recused herself from the Colorado case, but not the Washington case. She did so because she now realizes she is personally acquainted with one of the Colorado presidential electors, Polly Baca.
