On May 3, the Florida legislature passed HB 5, which requires that each initiative petition form must have its own unique number. If this bill is signed, then the government will need to provide blank petition forms. Under the old law, groups circulating an initiative print their own forms. See this story. Local election officials are complaining abut this bill, and it is possible it will be vetoed.
On May 10, Congressman Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts), chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, issued a subpoena to the IRS for copies of President Trump’s tax returns for the last six years. This is pursuant to a 1924 law that says Congress may obtain any taxpayer’s tax return.
If the returns are obtained, that might decrease the chances that any state will pass a bill denying ballot access to candidates who don’t reveal their tax returns. Thanks to Political Wire for this news.
James Hall, an independent candidate for U.S. House in an Alabama special election, has a ballot access appeal pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, Hall v Merrill, 18-1362. The state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend the deadline for its voluntary response from May 30 to June 29. This is an obvious signal that the state expects to file a response.
Usually, when a minor party or independent candidate files a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, the state responds by declining to respond. The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t accepted a cert petition filed by a minor party or independent candidate in a ballot access case since 1991, unless the minor party was a co-plaintiff along with either the Democratic or Republican Party, or both.
The issue in the Alabama case is whether a petition requirement of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote is too difficult in a special congressional election, when the 6,000 or so signatures must be gathered in a short time. The U.S. District Court had struck down the law as applied to special U.S. House elections, but then the Eleventh Circuit erased the U.S. District Court decision and said the District Court should not have ruled, because it ruled after the election was over. The 2-1 majority on the Eleventh Circuit felt the case was moot.
On May 10, the Maine joint legislative committee that handles election law bills had a working session on the bills that would create a 2020 presidential primary. The committee tabled LD 1083, which would have set up a ranked-choice presidential primary. It hasn’t made up its mind about the other bills. See this description of the working session at FrontloadingHQ.
Ryan Cooper writes in The Week about the electoral college. He shows clearly and convincingly that the electoral college does not help small states. Instead, it helps swing states.
