On July 30, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. LaPlante, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to dismiss Casey v New Hampshire Secretary of State, 1:19cv-149. This is an ACLU case filed earlier this year against a New Hampshire law that says no one can register to vote in New Hampshire if they have a drivers license and car registration from another state. The two plaintiffs are both students who go to school in New Hampshire and live in New Hampshire. But they don’t want to obtain New Hampshire drivers licenses and car registrations because of the expense, and because they know in a matter of a few years they will no longer be living in New Hampshire. One plaintiff has a California drivers license and the other has a Louisiana license.

The judge’s order, refusing to dismiss the case at this point, was delivered from the bench and is not yet in writing. The next step is a status conference in a few weeks.

The Sacramento Bee has this editorial, criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom for signing SB 27, the bill to require presidential primary candidates to reveal the last five years of their federal income tax returns. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

On July 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 505, which makes it easier for a candidate to get on a presidential primary ballot. The old law says the Secretary of State should put all “recognized” candidates on the presidential primary ballot of the party whose nomination the candidate is seeking. But it is very vague. For minor party presidential primaries, the Secretary of State has traditionally let the state chair of the party tell him or her whom to list. However, in 2016, Secretary of State Alex Padilla did not entirely follow that tradition. He refused to let the Peace & Freedom Party list Jill Stein, and he disallowed many candidates suggested by the American Independent Party.

SB 505 says a candidate can be on a California presidential primary if he or she is on the presidential primary ballot of at least one other state. It also says a candidate can be listed if the party wants that candidate on its primary ballot, and also the candidate has a campaign web page.

The Peace & Freedom Party, and the Green Party, worked effectively to transform SB 505. When it was first introduced, it was quite restrictive, but their lobbying improved the bill.

SB 505 says nothing about presidential tax returns. But because it fleshes out which candidates are “recognized” (i.e., those candidates who meet the SB 505 conditions), it will make it easier for various presidential candidates to sue over the tax returns bill, should they wish to do so.