California Independent Presidential Petition in 2020 will be 196,964, Unless Lawsuit Wins

Posted on by November 3, 2018
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The California independent presidential petition in 2020 will be 196,964 valid signatures, to be collected in 105 days, unless the Ninth Circuit strikes down the law in De La Fuente v Padilla, 17-56668. The requirement is 1% of the number of registered voters as of the close of registration for the November 2018 election.

No other state has ever required so many signatures for an independent presidential candidate in U.S. history. However, before 1969, Ohio had no procedures for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot.

Eleventh Circuit Refuses to Disturb Lower Court Ruling on Absentee Ballot Signatures

Posted on by May 3, 2020
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On November 2, the Eleventh Circuit refused to disturb the earlier ruling of a U.S. District Court, concerning signatures on absentee ballot applications, and returned absentee ballots. Georgia Muslin Voter Project v Kemp, 18-14502. The case involved situations in which election officials receive either a request for an absentee ballot, or a completed mail ballot, and they feel the signature on the envelope doesn’t match the signature on the voter registration form. The U.S. District Court had ruled that when the election official feels the signatures don’t match, the official must promptly notify the voter and give the voter a chance to prove the signatures are from the same person.

The three judges are Gerald Tjoflat, a Ford appointee; Jill Pryor, an Obama appointee; and Keith C. Newsom, a Trump appointee. The vote was 2-1. The court order does not say how each judge voted. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

This case should not be confused with the Georgia case over voters whose voter registration applications have a tiny mismatch with information about that applicant in other state databases, such as the Drivers License registry.

New Registration Tally for New York

Posted on by November 2, 2018
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On November 2, the New York State Board of Elections released the first registration tally since April 2018. The new statewide totals are: Democratic 5,780,030; Republican 2,633,776; Independence 442,992; Conservative 146,061; Working Families 41,853; Green 27,581; Libertarian 7,675; Women’s Equality 5,845; Reform 2,200; independent and miscellaneous 2,486,209.

The current percentages are: Democratic 49.94%; Republican 22.76%; Independence 3.83%; Conservative 1.26%; Working Families .36%; Green .24%; Libertarian .07%; Women’s Equality .05%; Reform .02%; independent and miscellaneous 21.48%.

The percentages in April 2018 were: Democratic 49.74%; Republican 23.29%; Independence 3.86%; Conservative 1.29%; Working Families .36%; Green .23%; Libertarian .06%; Women’s Equality .04%; Reform .02%; independent and miscellaneous 21.12%. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news. All figures are active voters. When states report both active and inactive voters, BAN always uses the active voter totals.

U.S. District Court Allows Georgia Voters to Cast Regular Ballots in “Mismatch” Case

Posted on by November 2, 2018
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On November 2, a U.S. District Court in Georgia issued an injunction in Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda v Kemp, 1:18cv-4727. The injunction says that voters whose voter registration records weren’t processed timely, and who bring proof of citizenship and residence to the polls, may cast a regular ballot, not just a provisional ballot. Here is the 36-page order.

California Secretary of State Won’t Express an Opinion on Whether to Restore Write-ins

Posted on by November 2, 2018
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California Secretary of State Alex Padilla held a press conference on November 2. He was asked if he favors restoring write-in space to California general elections for partisan office (California still has write-in space for primaries and non-partisan elections). All he said was that this is a matter for the legislature to decide.

Of course, the California Secretary of State always recommends election law changes to the legislature, so his answer seems to indicate he is satisfied with the status quo.