On February 12, the plaintiffs in Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, 1:15cv-1397, filed a request in U.S. District Court, asking the judge to rule as quickly as possible in the case. The document points out that independent presidential candidates would be greatly advantaged if the case could be decided in the near future.
On February 13, U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves, an Obama appointee, declared that the Mississippi State Senate district boundaries concerning the 22nd district violate the Voting Rights Act. Thomas v Bryant, s.d., 3:18cv-441. Here is the two-page order, which says that a full opinion will be released soon.
Mississippi elects all its state legislators in the odd years before presidential elections, which includes 2019. The filing deadline for primary candidates is March 1. The order says the legislature may wish to extend the filing deadline, at least as to District 22 and the neighboring districts whose boundaries also change.
On March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases from Maryland and North Carolina on partisan gerrymanders. Here is a link to enable readers to see the briefs in the Maryland case, Lamone v Benisek, 18-726.
Here is a link for the briefs in the North Carolina case, Rucho v Common Cause, 18-422. Thanks to Thomas Jones for these links.
According to this story, the South Carolina Republican Party may not hold a presidential primary in 2020. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for the link.
On February 13, the Arkansas House passed SB 163, which makes ballot access for newly-qualifying parties more difficult. The old law requires 10,000 signatures, due in early January, to be collected in 90 days. Assuming Governor Asa Hutchinson signs the bill, the new law takes effect immediately, and requires 26,746 valid signatures (3% of the last gubernatorial vote), also due in early January of an election year.
The old law requiring a petition of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, due in January, was struck down in 1996 in Citizens to Establish the Reform Party v Priest, 970 F Supp 690 (e.d.). The legislature in 1997 moved the deadline to July, but didn’t amend the number of signatures. In 2006 the Green Party sued and that same law was struck down again, in Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels, 445 F Supp 2d 1056. And in the 2006 case, the law had been amended to allow five months to collect the signatures, and also had a “cure” period so that if the petition was initially short of signatures, the group was allowed to file a supplemental petition.
The sponsor of SB 163, Senator Trent Garner, thinks that the 1996 and 2006 precedents are no longer good law because in 2011, the Eighth Circuit upheld the Arkansas law on how a party remains on the ballot. But the court in 2011 said that the challenged law did not prevent the Green Party from being on the ballot, and pointed out that it had been on in every election 2006 through 2010.
Here is the roll-call. The vote was 60-20, with 5 abstentions and 15 absent. The “No” votes included thirteen Democrats and seven Republicans. The seven Republicans who voted “no” are Jana Della Rosa, Justin Boyd, Dan Douglas, Richard Womack, Ken Bragg, Stu Smith, and Cameron Cooper. Four of the five abstainers were Republicans; they were Jimmy Gazaway, Justin Gonzales, Spencer Hawks, and Stephen Meeks.
