A U.S. District Court will hear arguments in Montana Green Party v Stapleton, 6:18cv-87, on Thursday, December 11, in Great Falls. This is the case that challenges the unequal distribution requirement for the party petition, and also the March petition deadline. The case arose in 2018, when the Green Party had enough valid signatures statewide on its party petition, but in a few districts did not meet the distribution requirement.

The distribution requirement requires a certain number of signatures in each of 34 of the 100 State House districts. But, oddly, in some districts the number of signatures is as low as 55, while in others it is as high as 150. The Green Party argues that the law, by requiring unequal number of signatures in various districts (even though the districts are of approximate equal population), violates one-person, one-vote.

Here is the last brief, filed by the Green Party on October 25. UPDATE: the original post said the hearing would be December 5, but it has been moved to December 11.

The Gothamist has more details about the efforts of some Democratic Party leaders in New York state to sharply toughen the definition of a qualified party.

None of the press in New York state has yet explained that 39 states have a procedure by which a group can transform itself into a qualified party in advance of any particular election, by doing some task, such as a petition. But New York is not one of those states. There is no party petition procedure in New York.

Courts would be less willing to strike down the New York proposal if there were such a procedure. Taking the Working Families Party as an example, if the vote test were so severe that it went off the ballot, but if New York had such a procedure, it could regain its qualified status quickly. But in New York, it can’t.

On October 29, the Pennsylvania legislature passed SB 421. It eliminates the straight-ticket device, legalizes early voting by mail, eases the deadline to register to vote, and also liberalizes the deadline for absentee ballots to arrive in the elections office. See this story.