On August 8, the Arkansas Secretary of State asked the Eighth Circuit to remove the Libertarian Party from the ballot, or to at least expedite the state’s appeal. Here is the brief.
The state’s brief is fairly lengthy, but it never mentions that the Arkansas 3% petition requirement, the subject of the case, was held unconstitutional twice in the past, once in 1996 in a Reform Party case, and again in 2006 in a Green Party case. In the 1996 Reform Party case, the state appealed its loss to the Eighth Circuit, but then shortly before the oral argument, asked to withdraw its appeal. The Eighth Circuit then agreed to let the state withdraw only if it acknowledged that the Eighth Circuit was affirming the U.S. District Court decision.
The state’s new brief lays great emphasis on a past decision of the Eighth Circuit that upheld a North Dakota law. But the North Dakota law at issue did not prevent the North Dakota Libertarian Party from being a qualified party. The North Dakota case involved how many primary votes a minor party needed to poll in its own primary, for state legislative candidates.
The state’s new brief also points out that the Eleventh Circuit had upheld Alabama’s 3% petition requirement in 2007. But when that case was decided, the petition deadline was in June of the election year, and Alabama allowed an unlimited amount of time to gather the signatures. Also the Libertarian Party has fulfilled the 3% requirement in Alabama in 2000. By contrast, no group ever successfully met the Arkansas 3% petition, which was in effect 1977-2006.