Arkansas Bill to Move Primary for All Office from May to March

Posted on by March 10, 2015
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Arkansas State Senator Gary Stubblefield has introduced SB 765, to move the primary for president and all other office from May to March.  Because the Arkansas petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates is tied to the date of the primary, if this bill passed, independent candidates for office other than president would be required to file their petitions in November of the year before the election.  The author of the bill has plainly given no thought to this problem.   Such a deadline would clearly be unconstitutional.  Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news about the bill.

Associated Press Story on the Uncertain Ballot Status of Ohio Libertarian Candidates in 2015 Elections

Posted on by March 10, 2015
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The Associated Press has this story, which has appeared in several Ohio newspapers, about the dilemma that Libertarians in Ohio are in, for the 2015 partisan local elections.  Although most odd year elections in Ohio are non-partisan, some cities have partisan elections this year.  Libertarians filed in three such cities.  Two of them have been told the Libertarian Party isn’t a ballot qualified party any longer, while in a third county, the filing has been accepted.

The party is waiting for a U.S. District Court to rule on whether the 2013 ballot access law is constitutional or not.  If the law is not constitutional, then it is likely the Libertarian Party is still qualified.

U.S. District Court Delays Decision in Illinois Libertarian Party Ballot Access Case

Posted on by March 10, 2015
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On March 10, U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood postponed the status conference in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Illinois State Board of Elections from March 11 to March 25.  She had already said that she would issue an opinion before the next status conference.  Therefore, the fact that she has moved the status conference two weeks into the future shows that the decision won’t be out today or tomorrow, but surely it will be out before March 25.

The issue is the unique Illinois law that says a newly-qualifying party must run a full slate of candidates.  No other state has ever had such a requirement, and Illinois does not require already-established parties to run a full slate.  The Libertarian case was filed in 2012 and has never had a declaratory decision, although when this case was assigned to a different judge, that earlier judge had enjoined the law, saying it was probably unconstitutional.

Lawsuit Filed Against “Prisoner Gerrymandering” in Jefferson County, Florida

Posted on by March 9, 2015
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Jefferson County, Florida, is in northern Florida and had a population of only 14,761 at the 2010 census.  It elects County Commissioners from five single-member districts.  District three happens to contain a state prison that has 1,157 inmates.

On March 9, some voters who live in Jefferson County, but outside district 3, filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the County Commission Districts violate the U.S. Constitution.  When the county draws the districts, it uses census data to make sure the districts have approximately equal population.  However, 43.2% of the voting age population in District 3 is in prison, and prisoners can’t vote.  The lawsuit charges that the actual number of people who are permitted to vote in District 3 is far smaller than in the other four districts, and therefore voters in the other four districts are underrepresented.  The lawsuit is Calvin v Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, n.d., 4:15cv-131.  The ACLU is handling the case.