The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Rose v Raffensperger, 23-1060, at its June 20 conference. This is the case over whether Georgia Public Service Commissioner elections should be at-large or by districts. The Eleventh Circuit had ruled in favor of at-large.
Here is the reply brief of the voters who argue for district elections.
It appears that North Carolina will have seven parties on the ballot this year, the most ever. The previous record was in 1980, when there were six parties on the ballot in North Carolina. See this story.
The seven are: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, We the People, and Justice for All. The latter two were formed by independent presidential candidates. We the People will nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.; Justice for All will nominate Cornel West.
No Labels is also a qualified party in North Carolina, but it won’t appear on the ballot because it isn’t running anyone. In North Carolina, new parties nominate by convention, and state officials of No Labels will obey the No Labels’ national office directive that no one should run for anything in their party this year.
North Carolina law is irrational by requiring statewide independent candidates to get so many more signatures than are needed for new parties. Kennedy and West would have used the independent procedure if the independent procedure required the same number of signatures as are required for statewide independent candidates. But in North Carolina the statewide independent petition takes eight times as many signatures as are needed for a new party.
Just prior to Monday’s deadline, New Jersey US Senator Bob Menendez filed petitions to run for re-election as an independent. He filed 2465 signatures, triple the number needed to qualify (800).
The embattled New Jersey Democrat is facing federal charges of fraud, extortion, bribery and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt between 2018 and 2022 – while serving as chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Menendez pulled out of the Democratic Party primary and reportedly had personally collected signatures to get ballot access.
Law Professor Derek Muller here lists many of the precedents that say states cannot add to the qualifications for presidential candidates to appear on the ballot. There are a few others that he did not mention, such as the California litigation striking down a California law requiring presidential candidates to reveal their income tax returns as a ballot access requirement.
Most of the precedents relate to congressional candidates, not presidential candidates. There are approximately 50 precedents that say states cannot add to the qualifications for congressional candidates.
GEORGIA LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL FOR EASIER PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT ACCESS
On March 28, the Georgia legislature passed an omnibus election law bill that eases ballot access for the presidential nominees of unqualified minor parties. SB 189 says that if a party has qualified to place its presidential nominee on the ballot of at least twenty other states, then that candidate may automatically appear on the Georgia ballot.
Governor Brian Kemp has not yet acted on the bill. The bill also makes it easier for a voter to be challenged, and it creates an obstacle for homeless voters. Current law lets them receive postal mail relating to election administration at any place where they can receive postal mail, but the bill says all such mail must be sent to the county elections office, and the homeless person must travel there to receive the mail. This has made the bill controversial, although it still seems unlikely that the Governor will veto the bill.
