Arkansas held primaries for the Democratic and Republican Parties on May 20. Incumbent state representative Fred Smith was defeated in the Democratic primary in the 50th district. The vote was: Smith 539; Milton Nicks 1,096.

Smith had been nominated by the Green Party in 2012 and had been elected. Although his name was on the only name on the November 2012 ballot, he had two write-in opponents in November. Earlier this year, Smith announced he would seek re-election, not as a Green, but as a Democrat.

This is the second time a Green Party legislator in Arkansas sought to run for re-election in the Democratic primary. Each time, the incumbent lost the Democratic primary. The first instance was in 2010, when Richard Carroll, who had been elected as a Green in 2008, tried to win re-election as a Democrat.

Here is a newspaper story about the oral argument on May 21 in the Michigan case that challenges the law that circulators must be registered voters. Here is another story.

On May 20, Michigan filed this brief in Moore v Johnson, 2:14cv-11903, one of the two pending federal cases over the state law that says circulators of primary candidate petitions must be registered voters. Michigan argues that because Congressman John Conyers only needed 1,000 signatures, the burden on him and any U.S. House primary candidate is not severe, and therefore no harm is done by the circulator registration requirement.

Michigan then says that the Sixth Circuit precedent Nader v Blackwell, which struck down similar Ohio laws, should not apply, because Ralph Nader needed 5,000 signatures to get on the ballot in Ohio in 2004, which is five times as severe as the Conyers’ petition burden. This is a silly argument. In Ohio, 5,000 signatures is less than one-tenth of 1% of the number of votes cast for president in recent years. But in Conyers’ case, 1,000 signatures is more than one-third of 1% of the votes cast in his 13th district in the last election.

Michigan does not mention the Second Circuit opinion Lerman v Board of Elections in the City of New York, 232 F.3d 135 (2000), which struck down a similar New York law, even though the plaintiff only needed 38 valid signatures. The candidate, Anita Lerman, was running for the Independence Party nomination for city council. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.