Even though the California Secretary of State has said he will appeal the order of the U.S. District Court, enjoining the tax returns-ballot law, he still hasn’t filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit. This is surprising, because time is urgent. The presidential primary ballot printing will begin later this year.
On October 2, New Hampshire said the presidential primary filing dates in 2020 will be October 30-November 15, 2019. Only the Republican and Democratic Parties will have a presidential primary in 2020. The Libertarian Party would have had one if its gubernatorial candidate in 2018 had polled as much as 4%, but she did not poll that high.
The New Hampshire presidential primary date is tentatively set for February 11.
It is very easy for a candidate to qualify for the New Hampshire presidential primary. No petition is needed, and no showing is needed that the candidate is discussed in the news media. The only requirement is payment of $1,000. New Hampshire usually has the most candidates on its major party presidential primaries of any state. Here is a news story about the announcement. Thanks to Daryl Perry for the link.
The Orlando Sentinel has this lengthy article about the debate already underway in Florida, over whether a top-two system for all state and local partisan office is a good idea or not.
On October 1, the North Carolina State Board of Elections filed this brief in Kopitke v Bell. That is the lawsuit filed by an independent presidential candidate, Kyle Kopitke, and an independent U.S. House candidate, Greg Buscemi. The North Carolina independent candidate petition is due March 3, 2020, which is clearly unconstitutional as applied to independent presidential candidates under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze.
The state’s brief is lengthy, but nowhere mentions that glaring flaw in the law. The lawsuit also challenges the statewide independent law because it requires approximately six times as many signatures for an independent as for a new party. That violates a U.S. District Court decision from North Carolina, DeLaney v Bartlett. The state’s brief says DeLaney v Bartlett is no longer good law.
The lawsuit also challenges the law that requires declared write-in candidates to file a petition of 500 signatures (for statewide office). The state says that law is “de minimus” and need not be defended because it is so easy. In practice, though, it is not easy, and many significant presidential candidates tried and failed to meet it, including Ralph Nader in 2000, Jill Stein in 2012, and Evan McMullin in 2016. The basis for the challenge is that there is no state interest in requiring a petition for a write-in candidate, because a write-in candidate’s name does not contribute to a cluttered ballot.
On October 1, California’s Secretary of State said he will appeal the October 1 decision that invalidated the new California law on tax returns and the ballot. Thanks to Steve Kamp and Thomas Jones for this news.
