SAM Party Files Federal Lawsuit Against New York Requirement that Parties Poll 130,000 Votes for President

Posted on by January 16, 2020
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On January 14, the SAM Party of New York filed a lawsuit against the new law that removes parties from the ballot if they fail to poll at least 130,000 votes for President, or 2% of the presidential vote, whichever is greater. The new law went into effect last year even though the legislature did not pass any bill on this subject. It became law because the legislature empowered a new Commission to write new election laws. Here is the Complaint.

The case is SAM Party v Cuomo, s.d., 1:20cv-323. UDATE: it is assigned to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, a Clinton appointee. It points out that the SAM Party does not desire to nominate anyone for president in 2020. It therefore seeks a ruling that requiring a party to run someone for president in order to retain qualified status violates the U.S. Constitution. The only other states that absolutely require parties to make a certain showing for president, to remain on the ballot, are Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, and Washington. Also Tennessee requires a showing for president in years when no U.S. Senate race is on the ballot. New Mexico law is ambiguous.

Most parties that are ballot-qualified in even a single state tend to want to run someone for president, so no lawsuit like this has ever before been filed.

The new law provides that if any part of it is held unconstitutional, then all of it is void. Thanks to Joe Burns for the news.

Florida Secretary of State Files Brief in Eleventh Circuit in Lawsuit Over Order of Candidates on the Ballot

Posted on by January 14, 2020
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On January 7, the Florida state government filed this brief in Jacobson v National Republican Senatorial Committee, 19-14552. This is the case over the order of candidates on the ballot. Current law puts the nominees of the party that won the last gubernatorial election on the top line.

The state’s brief mostly says the issue is not a fit topic for federal courts. The state says that because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that partisan gerrymandering does not violate the U.S. Constitution, therefore lawsuits on the order of candidates on the ballot can never be considered.

The hearing is February 12.

Rocky De La Fuente and President Donald Trump Will be Only Choices on Republican Illinois Presidential Primary

Posted on by January 14, 2020
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Three Republican candidates filed to be on the Illinois Republican presidential primary, but one of them, John Schiess, has been challenged off the ballot. He only submitted ten signatures, and 3,000 were required, so it was easy to challenge his petition. Therefore, the only names on the ballot will be President Donald Trump and Rocky De La Fuente.

Arizona Appears to Ignore Libertarian Party Ballot Access Cert Petition

Posted on by January 14, 2020
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The Arizona Libertarian Party last month asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its ballot access case, Libertarian Party of Arizona v Hobbs, 19-757. The U.S. Supreme Court then set a January 13 for the state to respond, if it wishes to.

Normally, when an appellee in the U.S. Supreme Court is notified that the other side has filed a cert petition, the appellee either responds by the deadline, or send a letter saying it doesn’t wish to respond. But the deadline for Arizona’s response has now passed, and the state has not even bothered to respond at all. It has not notified the court that it doesn’t wish to respond; it has simply done nothing.

The next step will be for the U.S. Supreme Court to set a date to consider the case at conference. It is possible the Court will also ask Arizona to respond. If the Court doesn’t ask for a response, there is almost no chance that it will accept the case.