Here is an Arizona news story about the Libertarian Party’s new ballot access lawsuit, filed April 12. The story quotes several Republican legislators defending the 2015 law change that made it very difficult for Libertarians to get on the Libertarian primary ballot. They say the old law, which only required a few hundred signatures of Libertarian Party members for a candidate to get on a Libertarian primary ballot, was too easy because all candidates need to show a significant level of voter support.

The problem with that argument is that the state has already conceded the Libertarian Party itself has a modicum of support (because it constantly remains ballot-qualified, because its registration is always above two-thirds of 1% of the state total). Therefore, anyone who wins the Libertarian primary does have a modicum of support, because the party backs that person and the party has already shown it has support.

Most states don’t require any signatures for a candidate to get on a partisan primary ballot. Instead they use filing fees.

Furthermore, the purpose of petitions (whether for a general election ballot or a primary ballot) is to keep the ballot from being too crowded. But the old law already kept the Libertarian primary ballot from being crowded; it was very rare for more than one Libertarian to qualify for any particular office. So already the Libertarian primary ballot was not crowded, and there was no legitimate reason for the legislature to increase the burden.

In November 2016, the voters of Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island, will vote on whether to use proportional representation in future elections for the provincial legislative body. See this story.

On April 15, the Arizona Democratic Party, and the national Democratic Party, and some Arizona voters filed a federal lawsuit against several Arizona restrictions on voting, include the law making it illegal for anyone to deliver more than a few voted absentee ballots, and the law making all provisional ballots void if they are not cast in the precinct where the voter lives. Feldman v Arizona Secretary of State’s office, 2:16cv-1065. The case also sues the Maricopa County elections office.

Other plaintiffs are some voters in the recent presidential primary. One plaintiff had to wait almost five hours with her infant and toddler, standing in line. Several other plaintiffs were not able to vote at all.

The basis of the lawsuit is Section Two of the Voting Rights Act, and the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The case is assigned by Judge Douglas L. Rayes, an Obama appointee. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.