Missouri State Appeals Court Rules that Initiative Petitions Cannot be Challenged by Showing that Circulators Weren’t Always Present

Posted on by September 21, 2018
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On September 18, the Missouri State Appeals Court ruled that a lower state court was correct when it kept a statewide initiative on the ballot. Bradshaw v Ashcroft, 820-75. The initiative had been challenged by individuals who testified that the circulator was not always present when the initiative had been signed. Copies of the petitions had been posted on bulletin boards, and some voters signed them when no circulator was present. But the Appeals Court said state law does not allow the Secretary of State to invalidate initiative petitions if the petitions on their face appear in good order, and the petition was signed by the required number of registered voters.

The subject of the initiative was medical marijuana. There will now be three initiatives on the ballot on the subject of marijuana.

Florida Still Doesn’t Know Which Statewide Ballot Measures Will be on Ballot

Posted on by September 20, 2018
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The Florida Supreme Court will soon decide whether to remove certain statewide ballot measures from the November ballot. These are not initiatives, but are proposals put on the ballot by this year’s Constitution Revision Commission. See this story. A lower court removed three of the measures because the lower court felt they violate the single-subject rule.

Connecticut Still Hasn’t Determined if Socialist Action Party is on for U.S. Senate

Posted on by September 20, 2018
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There is no decision yet as to whether Fred Linck, the Socialist Action Party nominee for U.S. Senate, will be on the Connecticut ballot. The volunteers for the party have found numerous substantial errors in the validation process of many towns. Some town clerks invalidated signatures of voters who are registered independents, as though the town clerks thought they were checking a primary petition. Some town clerks invalidated many signatures of people who supposedly aren’t registered, yet they were registered. The Secretary of State is letting the Socialist Action volunteers do all the work of re-validating signatures, instead of helping with the process. Another 600 valid signatures need to be found.

If Linck does get on the ballot, he will be the only statewide candidate in any state in November 2018 with the word “socialist” in his ballot label.

Bread and Roses Party Fails to Get Injunctive Relief in Federal Court in Maryland

Posted on by September 20, 2018
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On September 18, U.S. District Court Judge George J. Hazel, an Obama appointee, refused to order the Maryland State Board of Elections to put the Bread and Roses Party on the ballot. It needed 10,000 valid signatures, and it was 270 signatures short.

The state argued that because the Bread and Roses Party only had one candidate for any public office in 2018, and because that candidate, Jerome Segal, had run in the Democratic primary earlier this year, there was no basis for putting the party on the ballot in time for the 2018 election. Maryland law won’t allow Segal to be the nominee of a new party, even if it were on the ballot, because he is a “sore loser.” The state said the party is free to go out and get at least 270 more valid signatures, and then it will be on the ballot for 2020. The judge agreed with the state and denied injunctive relief. The order merely says “For the reasons stated on the record during today’s motion hearing, Plaintiffs’ Emergency Motion for a Preliminary Inuunction is denied.” Segal v Maryland State Board of Elections, 1:18cv-2731. The plaintiffs have filed a notice of Appeal to the 4th circuit, case 18-3844. This is a pro se case.