Florida Supreme Court Says Single-Subject Rule Does Not Pertain to Measures Put on Ballot by Constitution Revision Commission

Posted on by October 18, 2018
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On October 17, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that three statewide ballot measures should be on the November 2018 ballot. A trial court had removed them because they encompass more than a single subject. Here is the opinion in Detzner v Anstead, SC 18-1513.

Four justices believe that the Constitution Revision Commission, which put the measures on the ballot, is free to combine several subjects into a single ballot measure. Three other justices disagree. However, even those three justices voted to put the measures on the ballot, because they believe that the lawsuit filed to get the measures off the ballot has a procedural flaw.

Washington State Submits Ninth Circuit Brief in De La Fuente Ballot Access Case

Posted on by October 18, 2018
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On October 9, attorneys for the Washington Secretary of State submitted this brief to the Ninth Circuit, in De La Fuente v Wyman, 18-35208. The issue is the Washington law that says before an independent presidential candidate can begin to petition, he or she must run a legal notice in a newspaper, two weeks before starting. The legal notice must say where the petitioning will be carried out. The U.S. District Court had struck down the law, and the state is appealing. The plaintiff is Rocky De La Fuente, an independent presidential candidate in 2016.

U.S. District Court Judge Enjoins South Dakota Campaign Finance Disclosure Law for Institute for Free Speech

Posted on by October 17, 2018
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On October 16, U.S. District Court Judge Roberto Lange enjoined a South Dakota campaign finance disclosure law as applied to the Institute for Free Speech. The Institute wants to publish an analysis of two South Dakota ballot measures on the Institute’s web page. The Institute does not expect to take a position on the ballot measures, which relate to campaign finance. On October 8 it filed a federal lawsuit to protect itself, because the existing law seems to require the Institute to disclose its top five contributors if it publishes commentary about the ballot issues.

Here is the 13-page order in Institute for Free Speech v Jackley, 3:18cv-3017. The order depends on the fact that the Institute would not be spending any money, or virtually no money, just by posting its own analysis on its own web page. To the extent that the Institute wanted to send out a press release to news outlets mentioning its analysis, the cost for that would be virtually nothing as well. The state had argued that the Institute would not be in violation of the law even if it didn’t disclose, but the law itself seems to say that it would be in possible legal jeopardy, so the Institute received judicial relief.

New York State Trial Court Removes Republican Nominees for State Supreme Court from Ballot

Posted on by October 17, 2018
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On October 16, a New York state trial court judge removed the Republican and Conservative nominees for Judge of the State Supreme Court from the November ballot. See this story. The basis was that the nominating conventions for this office, for these two parties, violated state law. The ruling says the parties may convene a new convention and re-nominate.

New York elects State Supreme Court Justices from districts. This incident concerns the Fifth Judicial District, which, this year, is electing four justices. Although the Republicans have been removed from the Republican line and the Conservative line, they are still on the ballot as Independence Party nominees. The Conservatives had only nominated three of the four Republicans. The Fourth District is centered on Syracuse. UPDATE: here is the decision in the Conservative Party case. Here is the decision in the Republican Party case.

Alaska Lieutenant Governor Withdraws from Election

Posted on by October 16, 2018
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On October 16, Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor, Byron Mallott, resigned from office. He is on the ballot as a candidate for re-election, but if he is elected, he will not accept the office and it will be vacant. See this story.

Alaska elects Governors and Lieutenant Governors as a team. Independent Governor Bill Walker is Mallott’s running mate. Walker and Mallott used the independent candidate petition procedure to get on the general election ballot, and the ballot labels them “petition nominees.” But the Alaska ballot also tells the party affiliation of each candidate for partisan office. Walker is labelled as “unaffiliated” but Mallott is labelled as “Democrat”, because he is a registered Democrat. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.