Green and Constitution Parties Will Ask to be Put on Tennessee Ballot at Court Hearing June 8

Posted on by June 1, 2016
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On June 8, a hearing will be held in U.S. District Court in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, m.d., 3:11cv-692. The political parties will ask for an injunction, putting them on the ballot for the 2016 election. This lawsuit had been suspended earlier in 2016 in the hopes that the legislature would ease the ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties, but the legislature did not act. The law on how a party remains on the ballot had been struck down by the Sixth Circuit on July 2, 2015.

Minnesota Legislature Deletes the Two Provisions from the Omnibus Election Law Bill that Help Ballot Access

Posted on by June 1, 2016
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On May 20, the Minnesota House amended SF 2381, the omnibus election law bill. The amendment deletes the only two provisions of the bill that ease ballot access. The amendment was moved by Representative Tim Sanders (R-Blaine). The next day, the House passed the amended bill, and the Senate concurred. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill on May 22.

Minnesota has traditionally been friendly to candidates that run outside the two major parties, but that is no longer the case. Minnesota is one of only eleven states with no ballot-qualified parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. The Minnesota petition for a group to become a qualified party, passed in 1913, is so stringent, it has never been used. It requires the signatures of 5% of the last vote cast, due May 2. Because the legislature made no ballot access improvements during 2016, it is likely that one or several unqualified parties will sue the state next year. Under the 8th circuit precedent McLain v Meier, the Minnesota party petition is probably unconstitutionally difficult. Minnesota is in the 8th circuit. McLain v Meier struck down the North Dakota party petition, which required 15,000 signatures and was due June 1.

U.S. District Court Won’t Enjoin Arizona Law on How Candidates Get on Primary Ballots

Posted on by June 1, 2016
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On May 27, U.S. District Court Judge David G. Campbell, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to enjoin the 2015 Arizona law that sharply increased the number of signatures for a member of a small qualified party to get on his or her party’s primary ballot. Arizona Libertarian Party v Reagan, cv-16-1019.

The sole reason mentioned in the order is that the Libertarian Party didn’t file the case until April 12, 2016, and the primary petitions are due June 1. The order says the party should have filed the case sooner. The decision is eight pages. It mentions that the party had also asked that the number of write-ins needed to win a primary should be enjoined, but says nothing else about that separate issue. The party will ask the judge for relief on that, very soon. Arizona permits write-ins in primaries, but the 2015 bill made the same large increase in the number of write-ins that it made to the primary petitions.

In 1980 the Socialist Workers Party won a federal lawsuit against the number of write-ins needed to win an Arizona primary. That is why the Arizona law still allows members of newly-qualifying parties to win primaries with a very small number of write-ins. The case was Socialist Workers Party of Arizona v Mofford, cv-80-293, handed down July 22, 1980. But the Libertarian Party of Arizona is not a newly-qualifying party.