On April 18, the Arkansas Secretary of State filed an answer in U.S. District Court, in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Thurston, e.d., 4:19cv-214.  This is the lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party on March 28, 2019, against the new law requiring a party to submit a petition signed by 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to get on the ballot.  The old law required 10,000 signatures; the new requirement for 2020 is 26,746 signatures.

The fact that the answer has been filed quickly is helpful for moving the case along rapidly.  It is likely that the matter of injunctive relief might be resolved during May 2019.

A bill is pending in the Texas legislature to end partisan elections for state judges. See this story. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link. The story says the bill probably won’t pass this year.

On March 29, Montana HB 647 was defeated in the House by 43-57. It would have increased the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5,000 signatures, to 5% of the winning gubernatorial candidate’s vote in the last election. For 2020 that would have been 12,797 signatures.

Every Democrat voted for the bill, and every Republican except one, Geraldine Custer, voted against it. The Libertarian Party is on the ballot in Montana, but no other third parties are on. The Green Party tried to get on in 2018. It had enough valid signatures statewide, but after the Secretary of State put it on the ballot, the Democratic Party filed a challenge, and the State Supreme Court ruled that the party had failed to meet the distribution requirement. The Green Party has a federal lawsuit pending against the existing law. The basis for the lawsuit is the March petition deadline and the unequal distribution requirement.

If the bill had passed, the distribution requirement would have been made even more severe.