The Republican Party of Louisiana has filed a state court lawsuit against the law that requires them to keep a sex balance in their state committee. Louisiana is one of the states in which primary voters choose party committee members. See this story.
On January 9, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this brief in U.S. District Court in LP of Ohio v Tavares, s.d., 2:19cv-2501. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party challenges the law that says the State Election Commission will be composed of three Democrats, three Republicans, and a seventh member who must be an independent. The Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified in Ohio and yet cannot possibly have a member on the commission.
The brief also asks that once the constitutional issue is determined, that the court rule on whether it was wrong for the Commission to have set up gubernatorial debates in 2018 in which only the Democratic and Republican Party nominees were invited, and without even setting any objective standards for admission to the debate.
Seattle has a type of public funding for city elections called “Democracy Vouchers”. Every voter is given vouchers. The voter can then donate them to his or her favorite candidates, and the candidates can get money to spend on their campaigns by redeeming the vouchers.
The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to declare that the Seattle vouchers program, which is funded by a property tax, violates the First Amendment. On January 9, the American Association of Christian Schools filed an amicus in the case, Elster v City of Seattle, 19-608. The amicus, which argues the Court should strike down the vouchers, explains that even though campaign finance vouchers are unconstitutional, vouchers used to pay educational expenses for children who attend private schools are not unconstitutional. Here is the amicus.
On January 6, the Texas Secretary of State filed this brief in Dikeman v Hughs, 14-19-00969-CV. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party challenges the 2019 law that requires candidates seeking a Libertarian Party convention nomination to pay a filing fee. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
On January 7, a Texas state trial court in Houston ordered that George Powell’s name be added to the Democratic primary ballot in a judicial race. Powell had been told that he should pay $1,500 filing fee to the party in order to be on the ballot, and he did so. Then the Democratic Party rejected his application because the actual amount of the fee was $2,500. The court said the party accepted and cashed his check, and he had relied on the party’s statement that the fee was $1,500, so it is too late to exclude him. See this story.
