On January 17, the Georgia Libertarian Party filed this brief in the Eleventh Circuit in Cowen v Raffensperger, 24-13164. This is the case challenging the 5% petition for independent U.S. House candidates, and the nominees of parties for U.S. House if that party didn’t poll 20% of the vote in the last election for President or Governor.
Even if you don’t normally read briefs, you should read this one. The opening pages give a fascinating history.
On January 17, the Libertarian Party of Illinois, and independent U.S. House candidate Angel Oakley, joined the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ballot access lawsuit with an amended Complaint. Team Kennedy v Illinois State Board of Elections, n.d., 1:24cv-7027. Here is the Amended Complaint.
The lawsuit now attacks the Illinois restrictions that prevent circulators from working for independent and minor party petitions if they had earlier that year circulated for primary candidates, whether inside Illinois or in other states. It also attacks the notarization requirement for petitions, and the 90-day limit on petition circulation, and the requirement that presidential candidates must have chosen presidential elector candidates early in the process.
On January 17, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear Baxter v Philadelphia Board of Elections, 395 EAL 2024. This is the case over the validity of the law that says postal ballots are invalid if the voter either forgets to include the date on the outer envelope, or puts an incorrect date. The lower court had invalidated the law on the basis of the State Constitution’s provision that elections shall be “free and equal.”
No other state invalidates postal ballots for that reason. Generally states don’t even ask for a date on the outer envelope.
The Federal Election Commission has compiled the presidential vote. See it here. Later the FEC will also publish the congressional vote and will publish it in a book. It will be titled “2024 Elections”.
Not all states reveal the number of scattering write-in votes for president, but most of them do. The FEC calculates 210,381 write-in votes for president that will never be credited to any candidate, unless someone examines the official canvass prepared by each county. Sometimes the counties reveal who received scattered write-in votes, and some don’t.
The FEC does not include the write-in results from the District of Columbia that were discovered by a private individual, because his totals aren’t from an “official” source. Thanks to Tony Roza for the link.
The New Jersey legislature is on the verge of increasing the petition requirements for candidates in both the general election and primary elections. The Chair of the Hudson County Republican Party here denounces that move.
