On January 10, the Federal Election Commission published this useful chart, showing deadlines for presidential candidates to get on a presidential primary ballot, and also deadlines for independent presidential petitions.
It also has deadlines for congressional candidates. Footnote six correctly says, “In Louisiana, a congressional primary is not held.” Louisiana only has a congressional general election, and sometimes a run-off afterwards. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On January 9, U.S. District Court Judge Charles B. Kornmann, a Clinton appointee, struck down a South Dakota 2019 law that requires initiative circulators to register with the Secretary of State. The register must include the circulator’s address, all phone numbers, and all email addresses. The circulator must also reveal where he or she is registered to vote, and whether the circulator is a registered sex offender.
All of this material would be publicly available. The law also required circulators to wear a badge with their circulator ID number.
Here is the 15-page decision in SD Voice v Noem, 1:19cv-1017.
The first part of the opinion explains that the law is worded not only to apply to circulators, but to any person who urges any other person to sign an initiative petition. That probably is not what the legislature intended, but the law says it applies to “anyone who solicits petition signatures”. The opinion says that could even include a newpaper editorial writer.
On January 10, Marianne Williamson dropped out of the Democratic Party presidential race. See this story.
Law Professor Derek Muller has this op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. He points out that the combination of the California top-two system, plus the March primary for Congress, results in a system in which no one can run for Congress in November 2020 who has not filed a declaration of candidacy by December 11, 2019. So, even though unexpected events may occur after December 2019 and before November 2020, no new candidates may enter. This system is virtually unique in the nation. Other states have March congressional primaries, but later filing deadlines for independent candidates, but in California, even independents had to file in December 2019.
On January 9, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a short order, saying Rocky De La Fuente’s lawsuit against the law that gives parties complete control over which candidates get on their presidential primary ballot, lacks merit. The order does not give any reasoning, but says a full opinion will follow shortly.
