On March 13, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed HB 1035, which makes it illegal for groups to pay circulators on a per-signature basis, for petitions to establish a new qualified party.
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On March 9, the Utah legislature passed HB 204. It says in future presidential years, Utah will hold presidential primaries. The bill does not include details such as how candidates get on the ballot, or when the primary will be, or whether all qualified parties are included. Those will be fleshed out in next year’s legislature session.
On March 14, the Oklahoma Senate passed SB 350 by 41-3. It changes the law on how a party remains on the ballot, from polling 2.5% for the office at the top of the ballot (president/governor), to 2.5% for any statewide race, at either of the last two elections. The three “no” votes were two Democrats, Kay Floyd and Anastasia Pittman; and one Republican, Ron Sharp. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for the news.
On March 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the request of attorneys for the state of Montana to delay their filing in Ravalli County Republican Party v McCulloch. The state’s response had been due March 16, but now the government has until April 17.
This extension will delay the parallel Hawaii Democratic Party case as well. The U.S. Supreme Court is treating the two pending cert petitions as a unit. In both cases, the lower courts rejected attempts by the major parties to prevent members of other parties from voting in their primaries.
On March 8, Rocky De La Fuente and Jill Stein filed this opening brief in their Oklahoma ballot access case, De La Fuente v Ziriax, 17-6010. The issue is the 2016 requirement that an independent presidential candidate file a petition of 40,047 signatures, even though an entire new party could get on the ballot for 24,745, and an independent candidate for office other than president needs no petition at all.
The U.S. District Court had upheld the law, saying that because President is such an important office, the state has an interest in more difficult requirements for president than for other office. The U.S. District Court ignored the point that the U.S. Supreme Court had said the exact opposite in Anderson v Celebrezze.
If the legislature passes SB 145, this case will be moot. That bill has already passed the Senate. It eases ballot access for independent presidential candidates and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties.