On May 23, the California Assembly passed AB 1451 by 56-19. It makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. It also says statewide initiatives cannot qualify unless at least 10% of the required signatures were collected by volunteers.
The California League of Women Voters opposed this measure. A similar measure was vetoed by former Governor Jerry Brown in the past, but he is no longer Governor.
On May 4, Texas Libertarian Party member Wallace Dunn was elected to the Ector County Hospital Board, defeating the incumbent, 151-68. It was Dunn’s first time running for public office. Thanks to Nate Watkins for this news.
On May 7, the Second Circuit issued a one-paragraph order in Redpath v Spano, 18-2089. The issue in the case is New York state’s ban on out-of-state circulators. The U.S. District Court had struck down that ban. The case had been filed by the Libertarian Party.
While the state’s appeal was pending, the November 2018 election was held and the party became ballot-qualified in New York for the first time ever. Then the state argued that the case is moot. The Second Circuit agreed that the case is moot, and wrote, “The district court’s judgment is vacated.” This means that neither side won the case, and the issue is still unresolved. The Second Circuit did not allow an oral argument.
On May 7, all the fulltime judges of the Third Circuit voted on Delaware’s request for a rehearing in Adams v Delaware Governor, 18-1045. Nine judges agreed with the original decision, but four wanted to grant rehearing en banc.
The original decision said that Delaware cannot continue to enforce a law that says all state court judges must be members of parties that have at least 5% of the state registration. The case had been filed by an independent voter who is also an attorney, and who said he hopes to become a state court judge. Delaware judges are appointed, not elected, so even though he won the case, his chances of being appointed are probably not very high.
The four judges who voted to rehear the case are: Kent A. Jordan and Thomas Hardiman (Bush Jr. appointees); Cheryl Ann Krause (an Obama appointee); and Stephanos Bibas (a Trump appointee).
On May 23, the New Hampshire Senate passed HB 588. It repeals the law that says candidates in a presidential primary must be registered members of the party that they are running in. The law has not been enforced in the past. New Hampshire election officials have no knowledge of how various presidential candidates living in other states are registered. The bill is now through the legislature.
