On December 18, Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski completely retired from judicial service. He had been appointed in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan. He wrote only one ballot access case during his career, Peta Lindsay v Debra Bowen, 750 F.3d 1061 (2014). The issue was whether it was lawful for California’s Secretary of State to exclude Peta Lindsay from the Peace & Freedom presidential primary ballot in 2012. Lindsay was age 27 and the U.S. Constitution says no one can serve as president who is under age 35.

During the oral argument, Kozinski asked if the Peace & Freedom Party would be permitted to ask the Secretary of State to place a dog on its presidential primary ballot.

California state courts at that time had already ruled that the Secretary of State must place any qualified party’s presidential nominee on the general election ballot, regardless of questions about their qualifications. Also, California had placed the Prohibition Party’s vice-presidential nominee on the ballot in 1892, and he was under age 35. And, California had permitted Linda Jenness, the 1972 Socialist Workers Party presidential nominee who was also underage, to be a declared write-in presidential candidates. These facts were in the record, but they did not merit mention in Kozinski’s opinion.

Kozinski ruled against voting rights for ex-felons in an Arizona case in 2010, Harvey v Brewer, 605 F.3d 1017. The panel he was on ruled unanimously that Arizona could require ex-felons to pay various fees and restitution amounts before they were permitted to register to vote, notwithstanding the 24th amendment which outlaws poll taxes.

This article in Russia Today describes ballot access requirements for the March 18, 2018 presidential election in Russia. Parties with parliamentary representatives are on the ballot automatically. Other parties need 100,000 signatures to place a presidential nominee on the ballot. Independent candidates need 300,000 signatures. The signatures are due January 31, which is 46 days before the election.

In the United States, the earliest independent presidential deadline is North Carolina’s deadline in late April. Independent candidates for statewide office in North Carolina in 2020 will need 70,666 signatures, if the law isn’t changed before 2020; and the deadline will be 197 days before the November 3, 2020 election. A lawsuit, Leifert v North Carolina State Board of Elections, m.d., 1:17cv-147, is pending that challenges the independent requirements.

The Montgomery News, located in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, has this lengthy editorial and editorial cartoon, providing information about the status of the pending lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s U.S. House district boundaries. The editorial cartoon has a precise map of the districts in southeastern Pennsylvania, something that is unusual in cartoons.