A group of New Jersey primary candidates are expected to sue New Jersey over the legislature’s violation of due process. It increased the petitioning requirements and made the higher requirements effective for the 2025 election, right in the middle of petitioning season. There are uncontradicted court precedents that states can’t do that.
On February 26, the New Jersey State Appeals Court said that the State Constitution does not protect the right of two political parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. In re Tom Malinowski Petition for Nomination for General Election, A-3542-21. See this Election Law Blog post.
On February 25, the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that Arizona can’t require voters who use the federal Voter Registration form to attach copies of a birth certificate or a certificate of naturalization. Mi Familia Vota v Fontes, 24-3188.
Arizona acknowledged that voters who use the federal form don’t need such documents to vote for Congress, but said they can’t vote for President without such documents. Arizona argued that the U.S. Constitution lets Congress pass election laws that govern congressional elections, as Congress had done when it passed the National Voter Registration Act, setting up federal voter registration forms. But Arizona insisted that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t let Congress pass laws regulating presidential elections.
Arizona’s attitude is a sharp departure from almost 100 years of precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court that Congress can regulate presidential elections. As long ago as 1934, Congress upheld federal campaign finance laws affecting presidential elections. In 1970 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Oregon v Mitchell that Congress even had the authority to set the voting age at 18 for presidential and congressional elections.
The decision is by Judge Ronald Gould, a Clinton appointee. It is also signed by Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, another Clinton appointee. The opinion is 79 pages. The dissent, by Trump appointee Patrick Bumatay, is 77 pages. There are other issues in the case also, all relating to voter registration.
LEFT MINOR PARTIES SHOWED NEW STRENGTH IN 2024
At last year’s election, minor parties of the left showed notable success, compared to the recent past.
Green Party: more than doubled its presidential vote compared to 2020 (from 405,114 to 864,295). This is especially noteworthy because ballot access in 2024 was substantially more difficult than in 2020, especially in Illinois and New York. By contrast, the 2024 Libertarian presidential vote fell to 35% of what it had been in 2020.
Also, compared to 2022, the Green Party tripled its U.S. Senate vote and also tripled its U.S. House vote.
| SENATE | HOUSE | |
| 2022 | 87,964 | 79,669 |
| 2024 | 288,495 | 204,714 |
Immediately after the election, the Green Party was on the ballot in 18 states. By comparison, after the 2020 election, it was on in 15 states. Furthermore, it would have remained on in New Mexico in 2024 if it had polled six more votes for President; and it would have remained on in Missouri if it had polled eight more votes for Lieutenant Governor.
On February 24, the North Dakota House defeated HB 1245 by a vote of 29-64. It would have legalized paying initiative petitioners on a per-signature basis.
