On November 20, twenty-two states filed an amicus brief in Colorado Department of State v Baca, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case and rule in favor of the state of Colorado.

The brief says that the voters did not elect Michael Baca, the Colorado presidential elector who was replaced in December 2016 when he refused to vote for Hillary Clinton.  This is not a true statement.  The Colorado November 2016 ballot said, “Vote for presidential electors”, and then listed the various presidential candidates.

Ironically, this brief was organized by the Attorney General of South Dakota, and South Dakota is one of the few states that prints the names of presidential elector candidates on its November ballot.  They are listed underneath the name of the presidential candidate that they are pledged to.

The states that signed this brief are Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Presumably the authors of the amicus asked each state to sign, so it is interesting that 28 states did not sign, nor the did government of the District of Columbia.

In January 2016, a professional petitioner who wanted to work in Pennsylvania, for presidential primary candidates, filed a lawsuit to overturn the requirement that he must be a Pennsylvania resident in order to circulate such petitions.  Benezet v Cortes, m.d., 1:16cv-74.

Pennsylvania already lets out-of-state petitioners work on general election petitions, but says out-of-state circulators can’t work on primary petitions because that would violate the freedom of association of the two major parties.  The case is now almost four years old and is still awaiting a decision from U.S. District Court Judge Yvette Kane.  She was Secretary of the Commonwealth before she was a federal judge, so she is very familiar with election law.

U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts will hear Graveline v Benson, e.d. Mich., 2:18cv-12354, on December 17, Tuesday, at 8:30 a.m.  This is the case over the Michigan independent petition requirement for statewide office, 30,000 signatures.  Last year the same judge had enjoined the law and put the plaintiff, Doug Graveline, on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Attorney General.  The upcoming hearing is to determine the constitutionality of the law.