On August 22, the Florida state court that had ruled that the 2011 redistricting for U.S. House violates the State Constitution ruled that, notwithstanding the flaws in the old lines, they should be used for the 2014 election. The judge also said that the new district lines passed by the legislature in special session last week are to be used in 2016. See this story.
As previously reported, the Alaska Libertarian primary on August 19 included a 3-way race for the U.S. Senate nomination. Thom Walker won, even though he didn’t campaign and is not known to Libertarian Party activists. This story suggests that Walker won the primary because some voters confused him with Bill Walker, an independent candidate for Governor whose name was not on any party’s primary ballot, but who is well-known.
On August 22, the Sixth Circuit issued a 24-page opinion in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 13-5975. It says that the U.S. District Court should re-adjudicate the case, and should take testimony on how burdensome it is for a group to submit a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote (currently 40,042 signatures) with a deadline in early August.
Footnote four on page sixteen says the new evidence can be from other states. It should be fairly easy for the plaintiffs, the Green Party and the Constitution Party, to use experience from other states to demonstrate that getting as many as 40,042 valid signatures is burdensome. Neither party has ever been able to petition successfully for party status in any medium-size or small state that requires that many signatures. The only states in which either party has ever been able to overcome a signature hurdle as high as 40,000 signatures are California and Texas, which happen to be the most populous and second-most populous states in the nation.
The decision does hint that the state’s rationale for requiring as many as 40,000 signatures seems unconvincing. Page 16 says, “It is a puzzling proposition that voters should be less confused by a ballot listing numerous candidates without (“without” is in italics) a party designation than by a similar ballot including party designations; the latter, at least, contains information helpful to distinguishing among lesser-known candidates.”
The decision also wants more evidence to decide the issue of whether putting the two major parties in the top spots on the ballot in all elections harms other parties and independent candidates.
On August 22, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, a Democrat who is running for re-election this year, criticized the individuals who challenge the statewide Libertarian Party candidate petition. See this statement posted on the Governor’s campaign web page.
On August 22, U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby enjoined a Maine campaign finance law that lets individuals contribute twice as much money to a candidate for state office who is nominated by primary, relative to a candidate who qualifies for the November ballot by petition. The case is Woodhouse v Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, 1:14cv-266.
The case had been filed by individuals who wanted to donate to an independent candidate for Governor, Eliot Cutler. The law says they can only donate $1,500. But the law lets individuals contribute $3,000 to candidates who run first in a primary, and then, if they win the primary, in the general election. The decision says, “I do not lightly find a state statute unconstitutional. But these four Maine residents have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that in this election they have suffered unconstitutional discrimination as compared to contributors to party candidates.” Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the news.
