National Review has this article by Law Professor Joshua Kleinfeld and Rachel Kleinfeld, advocating that at least this year, states should let all voters cast postal ballots. This idea is not original, but given that National Review is considered to be in alignment with the Republican Party generally, and given President Trump’s hostility to postal ballots, this article is significant. Thanks to Ilya Shapiro for the link.
On April 8, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy extended the non-presidential independent petition deadline from June 2 to July 7. He also said that independent candidate petitions can gather electronic signatures. He also moved the primary for president and all other office from June 2 to July 7. See this story.
The independent presidential petition continues to be due July 27. Statewide independent petitions in New Jersey are 800 signatures and a partisan label is permitted other than just the word “independent.”
Bob Dunning has this commentary on California’s top-two system, in the Davis (Yolo County) Enterprise.
According to this story, on April 8, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon asked the legislature to quickly legalize electronic signatures for candidate petitions. Minnesota does not have statewide initiatives. Also, candidates seeking a place on a primary ballot don’t need signatures. So this proposal mostly affects ballot access petitions for minor party and independent candidates.
On April 8, some Georgia voters filed a lawsuit to force the state to provide postage-paid return envelopes for postal ballots. Black Voters Matter v Raffensperger. The case depends on the 24th amendment, which forbids “any poll tax or other tax” to vote in a federal election. Here is the Complaint. Black Voters Matter v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:20cv-1489.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg, an Obama appointee.
