FEC Web Page Posts Primary and General Election Filing Deadlines

Posted on by March 18, 2016
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The Federal Election Commission has this chart on its web page, showing the dates of presidential primaries and caucuses, the dates of congressional primaries, and the filing deadlines. Not every entry is necessarily correct. For example, the chart for Florida congressional primaries shows the independent filing deadline to be the date on which petitions in lieu of filing fees are due, not the actual filing deadline. Most candidates for Congress in Florida don’t use the in lieu of petition, whether they are party candidates or independents. For some reason the FEC puts the in lieu of deadline in the independent column, but not the column for partisan candidates. The FEC made the same mistake in its 2014 chart.

U.S. District Court Invalidates Georgia Petition Requirement for President, Imposes Temporary Standard of 7,500 Signatures

Posted on by March 17, 2016
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On March 17, U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story, a Clinton appointee, ruled that the Georgia petition requirement for independent presidential candidates and the presidential candidates of unqualified parties is unconstitutional. The judge imposed a temporary requirement of 7,500 signatures for 2016 only, until the legislature acts. The old law required approximately 50,334 signatures. The case is Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, n.d., 1:12cv-1822. The decision is 80 pages.

The decision only applies to the candidate petition for president. However, in Georgia, candidate petitions can include a ballot label other than just “independent”, so in effect the decision includes minor parties as well as independent candidates.

The plaintiffs, the Green Party and the Constitution Party, filed this lawsuit in 2012. The state says it will probably appeal, but it will not try to obtain a stay.