Final Brief in Eighth Circuit Filed in Minnesota “Faithless Elector” Lawsuit

Posted on by May 9, 2017
Reply

On April 27, Muhammad Abdurrahman filed his reply brief in the Eighth Circuit in Abdurrahman v Dayton, 16-4551. He is the 2016 Minnesota Democratic presidential elector who sued to overturn the Minnesota law that says presidential electors who vote in the electoral college for the “wrong” presidential candidate are deemed to no longer be an elector.

The U.S. District Court dismissed the case before Abdurrahman had even had a chance to make the case that the Minnesota law violates the U.S. Constitution. The issue in the Eighth Circuit is whether the U.S. District Court should be told to let the case proceed. There is still no hearing date in the Eighth Circuit, but it could possibly be in June.

U.S. Supreme Court Sets Conference Date for Louisiana Republican Party’s Challenge to Contribution Limits to State Political Parties

Posted on by May 9, 2017
Reply

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Republican Party of Louisiana v Federal Election Commission, 16-865, on May 18. The issue is the federal campaign finance law that restricts donations to state and local political parties, if the money will be used to help candidates for Congress and President. The 3-judge U.S. District Court had upheld the limits, in a decision issued November 7, 2016.

Colorado Bill Advances, Clearing Up Ambiguities in Semi-Closed Primary Initiative that Passed Last Year

Posted on by May 9, 2017
5

Last year, Colorado voters passed an initiative that changes Colorado primaries from closed primaries to semi-closed primaries. The initiative said independents could vote in any party’s primary. However, the initiative did not clarify whether independent voters had to make a public choice of which primary ballot they were choosing.

On May 8, SB 305 passed the Senate and a House Committee, and it will probably pass the House on May 10. It says that independents must make a public choice of which party’s primary they are choosing. The major parties, the only ones that normally have primaries in Colorado, desire to know who is voting in their primaries. The bill says that the independent voter will then be considered to be a member of the party whose primary ballot they chose, but then they are assumed to be independents again (automatically) when the next primary comes along. See this story.

Maine Ballot Access Bills Receive Legislative Hearing

Posted on by May 9, 2017
2

The Maine Joint Veterans & Legal Affairs Committee heard two bills that improve ballot access for new and small parties on Monday, May 8. In Maine, committees don’t vote on the day of the hearing. The hearing went well. The Secretary of State’s representative and several other witnesses testified in favor of the bills. No one testified against, and no legislator expressed opposition.

LD 295 corrects an imbalance in the definition of “party.” Existing law says an unqualified party that runs a candidate for President or Governor who gets 5% becomes a qualified party. But if an already-existing party polls 5% for President or Governor, that achievement has no effect.

LD 1571 moves the deadine for a group to become a qualified party (by getting 5,000 registrations) from December of the year before the election, to March of the election year. It also says that qualified parties with registration under 50,000 should nominate by convention instead of primary. The sponsor of both bills is Representative Louis Luchini.