Florida Legislature Passes Restrictions on Initiative Petitioners

Posted on by May 5, 2019
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The Florida legislature adjourned on Saturday, May 4. Just before adjourning, it passed HB 5, which had been amended to include all the restrictions on initiative petitioners that had been inside HB 7111. It passed the House 67-43, and passed the Senate 22-17.

It makes it illegal for initiative sponsors to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. It makes it a criminal offense for initiative circulators to fail to submit petitions later than 30 days after being signed. This legislative staff analysis includes the other restrictions.

Colorado Legislature Passes Bill Making Independent Candidate Ballot Access More Severe

Posted on by May 5, 2019
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On April 30, the Colorado legislature passed HB 19-1278, an omnibus election law bill. Among many other provisions, it makes independent candidate petition requirements (except for president) more severe. Most of the non-presidential statewide offices rise from 1,000 signatures to 7,000 signatures. State Board of Education and Regent statewide petitions rise from 1,000 to 3,500 signatures. U.S. House rises from 800 to 1,500. State Senate from 600 to 1,000. State House 400 to 1,000.

The bill does not affect the requirements for creating a new ballot-qualified party, except to move the deadline for a group to show that it has the needed 1,000 registered members from July 1 to April 1.

Many groups tried to stop the ballot access requirements from rising, but the only relief was that an earlier version of the bill set most of the statewide petitions at 10,500, but that was lowered to 7,000. However the bill still has a very difficult U.S. House district distribution requirement. Statewide petitions need 1,000 from each of the U.S. House districts. Furthermore, if Colorado gains a U.S. House seat after the 2020 census, the statewide requirement automatically rises to 8,000.

Although the bill technically makes the independent presidential petition requirement more difficult, that is a meaningless change, because it will still be possible for independent presidential candidates to get on the ballot without any petition, by paying $1,000.

Jury Trial Set in Illinois Case Over Whether House Speaker Recruited Two Sham Candidates in 2016 Democratic Primary

Posted on by May 5, 2019
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U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly has set a jury trial date for Gonzales v Madigan, n.d., 1:16cv-7915. The plaintiff, Jason Gonzales, was a candidate for Illinois House of Representatives in the 2016 Democratic primary against incumbent speaker Michael Madigan. The district is 70% Hispanic. Gonzales charges that Madigan recruited two sham candidates to run in the same primary, both of whom have Hispanic surnames. All four candidates were then on the primary ballot, and Madigan won the primary.

Although this might sound like dirty but legal politics, in 1973 the Seventh Circuit ruled in a similar case, Smith v Cherry, 489 F.2d 1098, that such a dirty trick can violate the voting rights of the voters. It will be necessary for Gonzales to show that the two “sham” candidates had no sincere desire to run for the legislature.

Florida Case on Order of Candidates Now Has Trial Date

Posted on by May 5, 2019
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U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker will hold a trial in Jacobson v Detzler, n.d., 4:18cv-262, on July 15, Monday, at 8:15 a.m. This is the case over the Florida law that determines the order of candidates on general election ballots. The law says the party that won the last gubernatorial election enjoys the top spot on the ballot for all its nominees. Republicans have won every Florida gubernatorial election starting in 1998, but in each of the last three elections, the margin was by less than 1%. The national Democratic Party brought this lawsuit last year.

The trial would have been on July 1, but the intervenors from the national Republican Party had a scheduling conflict. They are the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Governor’s Association.

The final briefs on each side are due May 7.

Federal Election Commission Publishes Free Book “Federal Election Campaign Laws”

Posted on by May 5, 2019
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The Federal Election Commission has published a 256-page book, “Federal Election Campaign Laws.” It can be seen on-line here. Also, anyone may obtain a free print copy by phoning 800-424-9530 and pushing option 6. Or, e-mail the FEC at info@fec.gov to request a copy.

The bulk of the book consists of Title 52 of the U.S. Code, “Elections”; and Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code. There are other code sections from other codes in the Appendix. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.