The Democrat-Gazette, the largest newspaper in Arkansas, has this story about the July 15 decision that struck down the Arkansas law requiring parties that nominate by convention to have chosen all the party’s nominees (except President) a year before the election.
On July 15, independent candidate Bob Perls filed a lawsuit in state court, arguing that the number of signatures needed for independent candidates in New Mexico violates the state Constitution. The New Mexico Constitution says, “All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.”
Perls is a candidate for Public Regulation Commission. If he doesn’t win his lawsuit, only one candidate, a Democrat, will be on the November ballot in his district. The law required him to get 3,643 signatures. Democrats in that district needed 750 signatures of registered Democrats to get on the primary ballot; Republicans needed 450; nominees of qualified parties that nominate by convention need 1,250 signatures and any registered voter may sign for them.
A similar lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2014, Parker v Duran, but a U.S. District Court refused to strike down the law. In some states, including New Mexico, the State Constitution has an explicit protection for the right to vote that does not exist in the U.S. Constitution. The case is Perls v State of New Mexico, Santa Fe County District Court. Perls was once in the state legislature. See this story.
On July 15, U.S. District Court Judge James M. Moody, Jr., an Obama appointee, issued an order in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Martin, e.d., 4:15cv-635. It says the Arkansas law requiring newly-qualifying parties to choose all their nominees (except for President) a year before the general election is unconstitutional. It says, “The Court finds that the Arkansas statutory scheme concerning ballot access for new party state candidates places a minor burden on the Libertarian Party as evidenced by the Party’s success in placing 17 candidates on the 2016 general election ballot.”
Then the order continues, “The Secretary of State has not articulated any valid interest in requiring the Libertarian Party of Arkansas, or any new political party, to nominate their candidates by a convention which must take place before the primary. Even though the Court finds the Libertarian Party’s burden to be minor, there is no interest, regulatory or otherwise, to justify this restriction by the State.”
The Arkansas primary is in March. The Libertarian Party had nominated 17 candidates in November 2015, in accordance with the law. Then it had held a second convention on February 27, 2016, and nominated four more candidates for the state legislature, and also four more candidates for partisan local office. The order does not require the state to put the February convention candidates on the ballot, because the judge felt that they could just as easily have been nominated at the November 2015 convention.
An oddity of Arkansas law requires newly-qualifying parties to submit their petition by September of the odd year before the election. All of these laws were passed in 2015. Yet in 1977, and again in 1996, federal courts in Arkansas had ruled that the old party petition deadlines of April (the 1977 case) and January (the 1996 case) were unconstitutionally early. The Arkansas legislature, more than any other state legislature, is in the habit of re-enacting new ballot access restrictions even though similar restrictions had been held unconstitutional in the past.
California Assemblymember Shirley Weber introduced AB 2466 earlier this year. It would let felons vote while they are incarcerated, if they are serving their time in county jails instead of state or federal prisons. The bill passed the Assembly on May 31 and passed the Senate Elections Committee on June 22.
The California legislature is is recess but will convene in a few weeks. The only states now that let felons vote while they are incarcerated are Maine and Vermont. Most countries allow felons to vote while they are serving a sentence.
On June 29, the Nevada Green Party filed this appeal with the Secretary of State, making the case that its party petition has enough valid signatures. The vast majority of signatures were collected in Clark County, which contains Las Vegas. The party believes that the validation process in Clark County was inaccurate. It is possible the party will also sue to overturn the June 2 deadline for the party petition.
