On April 24, the Ninth Circuit upheld Arizona’s voter registration forms, which give a checkbox to the two largest parties and does not mention the other qualified parties. People who want to register into any other qualified party must write them in on a line that is less than an inch long. Arizona Libertarian Party v Bennett, 13-16254.

The opinion is by Judge A. Wallace Tashima and co-signed by Judges M. Margaret McKeown and Marsha S. Berzon. The 19-page opinion says that the Libertarian and Green Parties are not really harmed by not being listed on the forms, and that the existing form serves the government interest in not having to re-print the form every time a small party loses or gains qualification. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story about the decision. And here is another.

Norman Leahy and Paul Goldman have this op-ed in the Washington Post, criticizing the exclusion of Joseph Morrissey from the Democratic primary ballot this year for State Senate. The op-ed makes it clear that he is being kept off the ballot under the theory that he doesn’t have enough valid signatures, when he really does have enough valid signatures.

Colorado Representative Dominick Moreno (D-Commerce City) has introduced HB 1354. Currently, Colorado lets independents vote in party primaries if the independent joins one of the parties on primary day. The bill would allow independent voters to vote in major party primaries without joining any party.

The bill provides that a special primary ballot, containing the names of all primary candidates, would be prepared just for independent voters. An independent voter choosing that ballot could only vote for one candidate per office, but would be free to choose a Democrat for one office or a Republican for another office.

Major parties that object to counting such ballots would be permitted to give up their primary entirely and nominate by convention. The bill would not generally affect small qualified parties, because they almost always nominate by convention. Here is a copy of HB 1354.