Georgia Supreme Court Will Decide if Georgia Petition-Checking Procedures Violate Due Process

Posted on by October 25, 2016
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Independent presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente is challenging Georgia procedures for checking petition signatures. He submitted 14,500 signatures earlier this year to meet a requirement of 7,500, and the state said only 20% of his signatures are valid. De La Fuente sued in state court over the petition-checking procedures. The Secretary of State has no guidelines for the counties on how to determine if a signature is valid. Each county checks the signatures from its own county without any guidelines. Some counties disqualify the signatures of inactive voters and others do not. Some counties attempt to identify a signature with poor handwriting using the signer’s birthday and/or address, and others don’t.

UPDATE: Here is Rocky’s brief in the Georgia Supreme Court. And here is the state’s brief.

A lower state court upheld current practice. The Georgia Supreme Court will hear De La Fuente’s appeal. In the State Supreme Court, the case is De La Fuente v Kemp, S17A-0424. Briefs are being filed this week. It is too late for De La Fuente to get on the Georgia ballot, but the case is important for future petitioning in Georgia.

Evan McMullin Says the U.S. May Need a New Political Party

Posted on by October 23, 2016
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Evan McMullin was on “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, on Sunday morning, October 23. During the 10-minute interview McMullin said the U.S. needs a new political vehicle for the conservative movement and that the U.S. therefore “may need a new political party.” McMullin says the Republican Party is unlikely to make the changes that it needs to make, at least in the next few years. He describes the movement he represents as one which is conservative and which would treat Americans of all races and religions equally. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.

U.S. District Court in West Virginia Issues Explanation of Why January Declaration of Candidacy Deadline is Almost Surely Unconstitutional

Posted on by October 21, 2016
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On October 21, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Chambers issued this 15-page opinion in Daly v Tennant, s.d., 3:16cv-8981. It explains why the judge put Darrell Castle on the West Virginia ballot on September 22, along with various other Socialist Equality and Constitution and independent nominees for various offices. Sometimes judges issue injunctions and don’t explain their basis immediately, and this case is an example of that. The October 21 order explains that West Virginia’s law, requiring independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, to file a declaration of candidacy in January, appears to violate the U.S. Constitution. The order says a January deadline “prematurely cuts off such candidate’s opportunity to respond to later developements…the January deadline deprives these candidates from knowing the political climate of the major parties and what issues will come to the forefront during campaigns. It also seriously impairs their abilities to raise support, money, and recognition for their campaigns.”

These quotes have special resonance, given the August 2016 entrance into the campaign by Evan McMullin. Although McMullin was not a plaintiff in the West Virginia case, and did not get on the West Virginia ballot, he would have been a model candidate-plaintiff for lawsuits against early deadlines in many states, especially Texas, Illinois, Indiana, and North Carolina. McMullin’s failure to file any ballot access lawsuits is a missed opportunity.