Maine is the only state that hasn’t decided yet whether to have presidential primaries in 2020. The legislature expects to adjourn June 19, and if no bill for a presidential primary passes, the state will use caucuses.
Democrats in the legislature want a presidential primary, but the state is worrying about paying for primaries.
Two cities in Utah will use ranked choice voting in November 2019, when they elect their own officers. They are Payson, population 19,000; and Vineyard, population 300. Both are in Utah County.
This the first time ranked choice voting will have been used in public elections in Utah. Thanks to Election Administration Reports for this news. See this story.
Ballot Access News has just learned that in 2018, the Kentucky deadline for non-presidential independent candidate deadlines was moved from August to early June. However, no change was made to the petition deadline for presidential candidates, which is still in September. Thanks to Ken Moellman for this news.
It is not likely that the June deadline for office other than president is unconstitutional, because the Kentucky primary is in May. Generally, for office other than president, courts allow the petition deadlines to be somewhat early in the year, as long as that petition deadline is later than the primary.
On May 15, the Ninth Circuit issued a five-page unsigned order, upholding Washington state’s law that requires independent presidential candidates to run a newspaper legal notice at least ten days before the candidate may start to petition. De La Fuente v Wyman, 18-35208. The U.S. District Court had struck down the requirement, but the Ninth Circuit reversed.
The Ninth Circuit wrote, “It may be that Washington’s requirement is somewhat antiquated, and that publishing newspaper notices does little in this day and age to alert Washington’s voters to ongoing political activity. But because the burden imposed by the notice requirement is ‘slight’, Washington must only show that the law furthers ‘important regulatory interests.’..As such, even the modest notice function served by newspaper publication is enough to justify the minimal intrusion on candidates’ free speech rights occasioned by the notice requirement.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has asked the plaintiffs in the Michigan and Ohio partisan gerrymandering cases to respond by 3 pm, Monday, May 20. The two state governments are hoping to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to stay decisions in each state from U.S. District Courts, telling the two states to redraw their U.S. House boundaries before the 2020 election.
