On August 20, at the judge’s instructions, the Georgia voters who are challenging use of the state’s vote-counting machines filed this brief. The purpose of the brief is to show that it is feasible for the state to use a different type of machine in time for the November 2018 election. The cas is Curling v Kemp, n.d., 1:17cv-2989.
On August 20, Chris Graveline filed his reply brief in Graveline v Johnson, e.d., 2:18cv-12354. This is the case that challenges Michigan’s petition requirement for independent candidates for statewide office. The plaintiff is running as an independent for Attorney General. The hearing is August 22. This reply brief stresses that the case challenges the petition deadline, which is several weeks in advance of the primary. It points out that the Secretary of State’s brief didn’t even defend that deadline. Courts are virtually unanimous that non-presidential independent candidate petitions can’t be earlier than the primary date.
On August 20, Illinois filed this brief in U.S. District Court in Gill v Scholz, c.d., 3:16cv-3221. The issue is the petition requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House, 5% of the last vote cast.
The state’s main argument is that because the Seventh Circuit has already upheld the 5% petition for independent candidates for state house, therefore the 5% for U.S. House must also be constitutional. The glaring flaw in this argument is that Illinois requires six and one-half times as many signatures for U.S. House as it does for state house. That is because Illinois has 18 U.S. House districts, but 118 state house districts. In 2018 the average U.S. House district required 14,560 valid signatures, but the average state house petition was 2,221 valid signatures. Yet the state allows the same 90-day petitioning period for both.
The state’s brief ignores that language from several U.S. Supreme Court opinions that say the way to evaluate petition requirements is to determine how often they are used.
Greg Orman is an independent candidate for Governor of Kansas. He submitted more than 10,000 signatures by the August deadline, and the Secretary of State ruled that 7,000 are valid. The requirement is 5,000.
Nevertheless, the Democratic Party has filed a challenge to Orman’s petition. See this story. The challenge seems quite weak.
This Everett Herald article says there will almost surely be a recount in Washington state’s primary for U.S. House, 2nd district, to see who came in second.
