On August 4, U.S. District Court Judge James M. Moody, Jr. denied the motion from Arkansas government attorneys to dismiss the case Moore v Martin, eastern district, 4:14cv-65. The issue is the March 3 petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates. That deadline had been in May, until 2013, when the legislature moved it to March.
The state tried to get the case dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs have not shown the deadline injured them.
On August 4, attorneys for Wyoming told a U.S. District Court that they will not try to defend a state campaign finance law that discriminates against minor party and independent candidates. The law lets individuals give campaign contributions to a candidate running in a primary early in the election year. But an individual can’t give a campaign contribution to a candidate nominated by convention, or by petition, until August 19 of the election year. The case is Wills v Maxfield, 14-cv-126.
In Wyoming, generally only the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate by primary, and other qualified parties nominate by convention. The case had been brought by the Constitution Party’s nominee for Secretary of State, Jennifer Young, and by an individual who wanted to donate to her campaign immediately.
The law has now been enjoined, and the public interest organization which represented the plaintiffs in court has been awarded $7,424 in attorneys fees. This is the second constitutional election law victory for the Constitution Party in the last thirty days; the earlier one was the Pennsylvania Third Circuit opinion of July 9.
The Constitution Party has other constitutional election law challenges pending in Alabama, Georgia, South Dakota, and Tennessee.
On August 5, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe set a special U.S. House election for November 4, for the Seventh District. It will be interesting to see what rules the Virginia State Board of Elections sets out for petitioning candidates. Under a Fourth Circuit precedent from 1981, Mathers v Morris, states must ease ballot access rules in special elections, because the petitioning time is so much shorter.
On August 4, attorneys for the New Hampshire Secretary of State requested, and were granted, an extension of time to respond to the lawsuit Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner. The issue is whether it is constitutional to outlaw petitioning for the party during odd years. The state’s answer had been due August 18, but now it is due September 22.
Kentucky and Kansas both have closed Republican primaries. This year, so far, the two more prominent wins for establishment Republican U.S. Senators have been in Kentucky and Kansas, where incumbents defeated “tea party” Republicans.
By contrast, the two states with the most prominent wins in congressional races for “tea party” Republicans have been in Virginia and Texas, both of which have open Republican primaries.
