On December 20, the plaintiff-candidates in Buscemi v Bell filed their opening brief in the Fourth Circuit. This is the case that challenges the North Carolina independent candidate petition requirements, which include a March 3 petition deadline and over 70,000 signatures for a statewide candidate. The U.S. District Court had upheld all these requirements.
On December 20, the Massachusetts Secretary of State announced which presidential candidates will appear on presidential primary ballots. He also held a drawing to determine the order of the names for each of the four primaries.
The Republican ballot will list, in this order, William Weld, Joe Welsh, and President Donald Trump.
The Democratic ballot: Deval Patrick, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bennet, Michael Bloomberg, Tulsi Gabbard, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Tom Steyer, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, John Delaney, Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg, and Marianne Williamson (15 names, in ballot order).
The Libertarian ballot: Arvin Vohra, Vermin Supreme, Jacob Hornberger, Samuel J. Robb, Dan Taxation is Theft Behrman, Kim Ruff, Kenneth Armstrong, Adam Kokesh, Jo Jorgensen, and Max Abramson (10 names).
The Green ballot: Dario Hunter, Sedinam K.C. Curry, Kent Mesplay, and Howard Hawkins.
Candidates are put on the ballot automatically if the Secretary of State thinks they are discussed in the news media.
The Tucson Star, the daily newspaper, here has an article about the Libertarian Party’s cert petition, in its ballot access case. It is unusual for newspapers to write about cert petitions, when there is no news yet about whether the U.S. Supreme Court is interested in the case.
On December 20, the North Carolina State Board of Elections added Bill Weld and Joe Walsh to the Republican presidential primary ballot. The party had recommended that only President Donald Trump be on that ballot. See this story. They refused to add Dario Hunter to the Green Party presidential primary ballot.
U.S. District Court Judge William O. Bertelsman will hold oral argument in Sweeney v Crigler, e.d., 2:19cv-46, on Thursday, January 9, 2020, at 1 p.m. This is the case that challenges the 2019 Kentucky law that said that candidates of parties that nominate by convention must file a declaration of candidacy in January of election years. The law only applied to candidates for state and local partisan office, not federal office.
The law was enjoined earlier this year, and now the constitutionality of the law will be considered.
