The San Diego Union-Tribune has this lengthy and interesting story about Rocky De La Fuente and his campaigns for political office.
There is one factual error in the story. It says the Mark Seidenberg, vice-chair of the American Independent Party lives in Vacaville, Solano County. Actually it is the state chair of the AIP, Markham Robinson, who lives in Vacaville. Mark Seidenberg lives in Orange County, in southern California.
Florida rules for the ability of ex-felons to register to vote are mired down in unresolved issues. The legislature in 2019 passed a bill saying they can’t register if they owe any unpaid restitution, fines, or court costs. Then a U.S. District Court ruled that if ex-felons can’t afford to pay, they must be allowed to register. The state has appealed that decision to the Eleventh Circuit.
In the meantime, county election officials are stepping in, at least is Hillsborough County. See this story, which explains how the county government is helping ex-felons to handle the ambiguity, and also how private organizations are helping pay unpaid obligations. Of course, this creates a situation in which voting rights depends on which county an individual inhabits, which is something that the U.S. Supreme Court condemned in 2000 in Bush v Gore.
On December 26, the Georgia Libertarian Party filed this reply brief in its ballot access case, Cowen v Raffensperger, 19-14065. All the briefs are now in. The issue is the law on how minor party and independent candidates get on the ballot for U.S. House. The law is so difficult, no third party has ever complied with the law in the 76 years it has existed, and no independent has done it since 1964. Back in 1964 the deadline was in October, the signatures weren’t checked, and no U.S. House boundaries crossed county boundaries, so petitioning was far easier.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris has withdrawn her name from all Democratic presidential primary ballots, except for two states where the ballot was finalized before she withdrew from the race. Sometimes candidates in presidential primaries withdraw publicly, but don’t bother to do the paperwork to remove their names from ballots. But Harris did do the necessary paperwork.
By contrast, Mark Sanford withdrew publicly from the Republican race, but he didn’t bother to withdraw his name from the Michigan Republican primary ballot, even though Michigan has procedures for withdrawal.
On December 20, the Eleventh Circuit expedited the case Jacobson v Florida Secretary of State, 19-14552. This is the case over the order of candidates on Florida general election ballots. The law gives the nominees of the party that won the last gubernatorial election the top spot on the ballot. Earlier this year, the U.S. District Court declared the law unconstitutional. The case had been filed by Democrats. Republicans have won all gubernatorial elections in Florida starting with 1998.
The Eleventh Circuit also refused to stay the decision of the U.S. District Court.
The Florida government brief is due January 7, 2020. The Democratic brief is due January 21, and the government’s reply brief is due February 4. The three judges on the Eleventh Circuit in this case are Beverly B. Martin (an Obama appointee); and Kevin Newsom and Britt Grant (Trump appointees).
A decision from the Eleventh Circuit in this case will probably control the outcome of a similar Georgia Democratic Party case that is pending in U.S. District Court. Both Florida and Georgia are in the Eleventh Circuit. The Georgia case is S.P.S.. ex rel Short v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:19cv-4960. In that case, the Georgia government has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court decision Rucho v Common Cause (which said partisan gerrymandering does not violate the U.S. Constitution) means that federal courts have no authority to adjudicate cases on the order of candidates on the ballot. That is a very weak argument.
