The New Hampshire League of Women Voters, and the state’s Democratic Party, have sued to block a new voter registration restriction passed earlier this year.  The case was originally filed in state court, but on August 31 was dismissed and re-filed in U.S. District Court.  League of Women Voters of NH v Secretary of State, 1:17cv-395.

New Hampshire has had election-day registration for some years.  The new law, SB 3, requires individuals who register within 30 days of an election to sign a statement saying they must furnish documents proving their intent to permanently reside in New Hampshire within the next few weeks, and that if they don’t, they will be guilty of election fraud.  The lawsuit argues the list of documents is too complicated, and will intimidate individuals from registering to vote during the last 30 days before an election.

James Coll has been removed from the New York September 12 Democratic primary ballot because on his petition, he filled in the blank for the office he is running for as “county legislature” instead of “county legislator”.  See this story.  He is appealing.  But the appeals court hearing is only one day before the primary.  He is running in Nassau County.

On September 1, California bill AB 469 was amended.  It somewhat eases the petition in lieu of filing fees.  The number of signatures for a statewide office drops from 10,000 to 7,000.  The number for U.S. House and State Senate drops from 3,000 to 2,000.  The number for Assembly drops from 1,500 to 1,000.

These changes had already been in the bill, but the September 1 amendment says that the petition forms will be available 60 days, instead of 45 days, before the date for filing the other (mandatory) petition to be on the primary ballot (that other mandatory petition is only 65 signatures for statewide office and 40 for district office).  This is to compensate for the other aspect of the bill, which sets an earlier deadline for the petition in lieu of filing fee and abolishes the ability to get more signatures on the in lieu of petition if the first submission shows that not enough valid signatures had been turned in.

The California in lieu of filing fee petition helps reduce the amount of the filing fee, even if it isn’t completed.  Every valid signature on an in lieu of petition reduces the amount of the filing fee.  Thanks to Mike Feinstein for the link.  The fact that this bill exists in its present form is due to skillful lobbying on the part of the Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party.