On March 23, Cheri Honkala, the Green Party nominee for the March 21 special election for Pennsylvania House, 197th district, said she will sue Philadelphia election officials and others for many instances of voter intimidation and mishandling of ballots. See this story. The Republican nominee has also asked that the ballots be sealed, but she has apparently not yet said that she will sue. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On June 28, 2016, some Bernie Sanders voters and delegates sued the Democratic Party in federal court, alleging that the party conspired to injure the chances of Sanders as he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. The party is attempting to get the case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The last brief was filed on October 14, 2016, but no action on the case has occurred since then.
The case is Wilding v Democratic National Committee services, s.d. Florida, 0:16cv-61511. The Judge is William D. Zloch, a Reagan appointee.
Tucson, Arizona, has partisan elections for city council. The unusual Tucson law provides that parties nominate in primaries within each district. But, in the general election, all the seats are contested citywide. The Ninth Circuit had originally ruled that this system violates the Constitution, but then the City of Tucson had asked for rehearing en banc, and the en banc panel upheld the system.
The voters who brought the lawsuit then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, but on March 20, the Court declined. The case was Public Integrity Alliance v City of Tucson, 16-730. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news.
Rocky De La Fuente and Jill Stein are currently litigating against Oklahoma in the Tenth Circuit, over the law that required them to collect over 40,000 signatures in 2016. The case is De La Fuente v Ziriax. On March 23, the Tenth Circuit issued permission for the state to postpone filing its response brief until the legislative session is over. The Tenth Circuit is aware that the State Senate already passed SB 145, which eliminates mandatory petitions for independent presidential candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, if they pay a large filing fee. If the bill passes the House and is signed by the Governor, that will moot the case.
Delaware Representative Stephanie T. Bolton (D-Christiana) and thirteen other legislators have introduced HB 89. It would move the Delaware primary from September to the fourth Tuesday in April. Delaware already has presidential primaries in April, but primaries for all other office are in September. The bill would set the primaries for all offices, in all election years, in April.
An indirect effect of the bill would be to move the deadline for a new party to qualify from late August, to March. Also, minor party nominating conventions would need to be held before March 15.
The bill would probably be unconstitutional, as applied to new parties trying to qualify in an election year. Not only would the registration drive need to be completed by March; no voter would be allowed to switch parties during February and March, so it would be almost impossible to qualify a new party except during the odd year before the election year. Thanks to ElectionLine for news of this bill.
The bill will have a hearing in the House Administration Committee in the next two weeks.
