On March 20, the Republican National Committee asked a U.S. District Court to intervene in Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 1:!4cv-322. The issue in the lawsuit is the 2013 change to the New Hampshire election law that it made it illegal for a newly-qualifying party to circulate a party petition during an odd year.

The Republican National Committee’s motion says, “This lawsuit challenges a recent New Hampshire amendment to its election laws regarding ballot access by political organizations. The RNC proposes to intervene for the purpose of defending constitutionality of that amendment (sic)…The Republican Party has qualified for access to the New Hampshire general election ballot in 2016. Accordingly, it has a vital interest in New Hampshire’s election regulation in general and, specifically, the requirements for ballot access…the defendant (the Secretary of State) cannot adequately represent the RNC’s interests in this litigation.”

As far as is known, this is the first time any major party national committee has intervened in a constitutional ballot access lawsuit at a time remote from a presidential general election. The Democratic National Committee intervened in some lawsuits involving independent presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy in 1976, John B. Anderson in 1980, and Ralph Nader in 2004. But those interventions were on how certain ballot access laws should be interpreted, not over their constitutionality.

This action is a clue that the Republican National Committee will be seeking to intervene in court in many states during 2016 to try to prevent the Libertarian Party, and possibly other minor parties or independent candidates, from getting on the ballot. It also might be connected to the actions of Republican legislators in South Dakota and Arizona, who during March have solidly voted in favor of bills making ballot access laws for minor parties more difficult.

On March 30, the Arkansas Senate State Agencies & Government Affairs Committee passed SB 860, which makes it more difficult for initiatives and referenda to get on the ballot. See this story. Among other things, the bill makes it a crime for any voter so sign a petition twice. Many times, individuals sign a petition twice because they don’t remember that they had already signed it. This is especially true for initiative petitions, when the petition drive may be ongoing for many months.

Mississippi SB 2531 failed to pass, even though it had passed both chambers of the legislature. The versions of the bill were slightly different in each house, and it is now too late for a conference committee compromise. The bill would have moved the presidential primary (and the primary for all other office in presidential years) from the 2nd Tuesday in March to the 1st Tuesday in March.

As a result, it is now somewhat plausible that the Alabama bill to make the same change may not pass. The idea was to have a unified primary day for several neighbor states in the south, including Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.