Last year, independent presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente sued Virginia over the requirement that his candidates for presidential elector were being forced to reveal their entire Social Security numbers to the state, before his petition (which lists candidates for presidential elector) could begin to circulate. De La Fuente argued that this made it more difficult for him to recruit candidates for presidential elector. Virginia requires one presidential elector candidate to reside in each of the state’s eleven districts.

The lawsuit is De La Fuente v Alcorn, e.d., 1:16cv-1201. It has already survived several attempts by the state to have the case dismissed. On December, both sides agreed to hold a settlement conference on January 4, 2018, at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, at 1:30 p.m. It is likely that both sides will come to some agreement to resolve the issue.

On September 19, 2017, professional petitioner Darryl Bonner and Alaska Libertarian activist Scott Kohlhaas filed a federal lawsuit against the Alaska law that bans out-of-state circulators for initiative petitions. Bonner v Bahnke, 3:17cv-202. On October 20, the state said it would not attempt to defend the ban, and so a stipulated judgment and order was issued. Out-of-state circulators can now circulate initiative petitions in Alaska, and they are permitted to cross out language on the petition saying they are Alaska residents.

Alaska never had a ban on out-of-state circulators for candidate petitions.

An earlier lawsuit against the Alaska ban, Raymond v Fenumiai, filed in 2012, failed on procedural grounds. The out-of-state circulator-plaintiff in that case, Robert Raymond of Wisconsin, did not allege any particular initiative petitions he wanted to work on, so he was deemed not to have standing by both the U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit. But in the newer case, Bonner specified four particular initiatives he wanted to circulate, so he did have standing. Thanks to Ken Jacobus for this news.

A group of smaller political parties in Ontario here announces plans to sue over various election laws that injure them. They want more inclusive debates, and also an end to polls that don’t list all the candidates that are on the ballot, and many other points. Scroll down to the bottom of the press release for the details. The Libertarian Party is part of the effort.