On September 1, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Dorsey upheld Nevada’s June petition deadline for unqualified parties to submit a petition for ballot access. Nevada Green Party v Cegavske, 2:16cv-1951.
The decision acknowledges that in 1992, another U.S. District Court Judge in Nevada enjoined the June 10 deadline. The current deadline is June 3. But Judge Dorsey said the 1992 precedent doesn’t apply because back then, the petition requirement was 3%, and nowadays it is 1%. This is an erroneous conclusion of law. Early petition deadlines for presidential independent candidate are unconstitutional no matter how few signatures are required. This is obvious, because in Anderson v Celebrezze, Ohio’s independent petition deadline was too early, even though the number of signatures was only one-tenth of 1% of the last presidential vote cast, and was only eight-hundredths of 1% of the number of registered voters. That percentage is mentioned in the U.S. District Court decision in Anderson v Celebrezze.
Judge Dorsey mentioned that the Ninth Circuit had struck down Arizona’s independent petition deadline in 2008, and Arizona’s petition deadline was later than Nevada’s deadline. But she wrote that in Arizona, few independent candidates for president ever qualified, whereas in Nevada, the Libertarian and Independent American Parties are on the ballot. But the Libertarian and Independent American Parties have not had to petition since 1986 (in the case of the Libertarians) and even earlier for the IAP, so that is irrelevant. Judge Dorsey also mentioned that the Green Party was on the ballot in Nevada in the past.
Judge Dorsey did not mention that June petition deadlines have been invalidated in South Dakota, Alaska, and Kansas. However, the latter two were unpublished opinions. UPDATE: here is a news story about the decision, although it doesn’t explain the lawsuit very well.
