Five Connecticut Democratic legislators have introduced HB 6575, which says that presidential candidates must release their last three federal income tax returns, or they may not have any presidential elector candidates on the ballot. The Connecticut general election ballot doesn’t now list candidates for presidential elector, but the ballot does say “Vote for Presidential Electors” (and then the presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ names are listed). Here is the text, which is very short.
The bill’s reference to presidential elector candidates appears to be an attempt to insulate the bill from the principle that states cannot add to the qualifications for federal office that are listed in the U.S. Constitution. However, that probably wouldn’t work. If a state were to pass a law saying no presidential candidate under the age of 40 could have eligible presidential elector candidates, surely that would not be constitutional. In U.S. Term Limits v Thornton, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that invalidated term limits for members of Congress, the proponents of term limits tried to save their law by making it a ballot access restriction, but the U.S. Supreme Court still invalidated those laws. Those laws said that anyone could be a write-in candidate for congress but no one could have his or her name on the ballot who had already served several terms, but that didn’t work. Thanks to Andrew Rule for the news about the bill.