New Kansas Lawsuit over Whether Kansas Secretary of State Has Authority to Set Up Two Lists of Registered Voters

Posted on by July 19, 2016
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On July 19, the Kansas ACLU filed a new lawsuit in Kansas state court, over whether the Secretary of State has authority to set up two lists of registered voters. Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State, has created a list of registered voters who used the federal voter registration form, and a separate list for those who used the state form. Persons on the first list will only be allowed to vote for Congress in the upcoming August 2 primary.

The lawsuit, Marvin Brown v Kobach, argues that the Kansas Constitution and election laws contain no authorization for two separate lists of registered voters. The new lawsuit will probably be decided very quickly, because the primary is only two weeks away. The case is filed in Shawnee County.

Connecticut Invalidates Rocky De La Fuente Petition on the Mistaken Belief that the U.S. Constitution Does Not Permit Presidential Electors to Vote for Someone from the Same State for Both President and Vice-President

Posted on by July 19, 2016
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The Connecticut Secretary of State has rejected Rocky De La Fuente’s petition to be an independent candidate, on the basis that the petition lists two residents of Florida for President and Vice-President. The petition lists De La Fuente for President and Michael Steinberg for Vice-President. Both currently live in Florida.

Connecticut’s rejection says the U.S. Constitution does not permit Connecticut presidential electors to vote for this ticket. The Secretary of State is wrong. The 12th amendment only bars presidential electors from voting from someone from the same state as those electors for both President and Vice-President. It says, “The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” The Secretary of State is ignoring the last two words.

Furthermore, even aside from that, if Rocky De La Fuente’s electors won the election in Connecticut on November 8, either the presidential candidate or the vice-presidential candidate would be free to move to another state before mid-December, when the electors vote. This point was made in Jones v Bush, a lawsuit filed in 2000 over whether the Texas Republican presidential electors would be permitted to vote for both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The lawsuit alleged that both Bush and Cheney were living in Texas. The U.S. District Court said Cheney could claim residence in Wyoming, but even aside from that, even if he were a Texan, he would be free to move to another state before the electoral college voted. The Constitutional language only refers to residence at the time the electoral college votes, and has no duration of residency requirement. Here is the letter sent by De La Fuente’s attorney to the Connecticut Secretary of State, pointing this out.

In the past, there were elections in which the Socialist Workers Party nominees for President and Vice-President were both New York residents. A challenge was once filed to the SWP’s ballot position in New York during one of those years, but the challenge was defeated.

Illinois Incumbent Fights to Appear on Ballot as an Independent

Posted on by July 18, 2016
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Mike Depoister was elected to the Effingham County, Illinois County Board as a Republican in 2012. Late last year, he said he would run for re-election as an independent. He submitted a petition, but on July 12 he was removed from the November ballot on the grounds that he had voted in the March 2016 Republican primary.

Illinois has had a law since 2012 which does not allow anyone to be an independent candidate if he or she voted in a party primary earlier that same year. DePoister recently filed a lawsuit in state court, arguing that the new law violates the U.S. Constitution. He also argues that the objection to his petition is flawed. The case is DePoister v Effingham County Electoral Board, 16-MR-69, in Effingham County Circuit Court.