On May 1, the Hawaii legislature passed HB 134. It allows candidates to file electronically.
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On May 12, the Republican National Committee filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Republican National Committee v Genser, 24-786. The Republican Party is trying to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling of the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court had ruled that if a postal ballot is rejected because the outer envelope lacked a date, then the voter who case that invalid ballot can vote provisionally at the polls.
The Republican Party argues the State Supreme Court had no authority to make such a ruling, because the U.S. Constitution doesn’t permit state courts to play a role in determining what the rules should be for federal elections, and that only a state legislature can do that.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, 24-684, on Thursday, May 15. This will be the third time the Court has considered whether to hear this case. The case arose as a challenge to the May independent petition deadline. But the Second Circuit said the case was moot because the election was over, so now it has become more fundamentally about whether constitutional ballot access cases are moot just because the election is over. In 1969 the U.S. Supreme Court said such cases are not moot.
On May 7, the New Hampshire Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee passed HB 481. It moves the non-presidential primary from September to June. Because independent candidate petition deadlines and filing deadlines are tied to the date of the primary, the bill automatically moves the petition deadline from August to May. It moves the deadline for independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy from June to March. The law on declaration of candidacy even applies to independent presidential candidates. Therefore, an independent presidential candidate must file by March.
A similar bill was vetoed by former Governor Chris Sununu in 2021.
On May 9, Maine State Representative Laurel Libby filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Libby v Fecteau, the dispute over whether the Maine House majority can deprive a legislator’s ability to vote on bills unless she apologizes for a social media posting.