On August 12, the plaintiffs filed this brief in Balsam v Guadagno, the federal lawsuit that says states cannot pay for partisan primaries unless all voters are permitted to vote in those primaries.
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The Eleventh Circuit will hear Stein v Bennett, 13-15556, during the week of November 17, 2014. This is the case over the constitutionality of Alabama’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The deadline applies in presidential election years but not midterm years. The U.S. District Court had upheld the March deadline.
U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Piersol will hear Myers v Gant on Monday, August 18, at 2 p.m. This is the South Dakota case over whether an independent candidate for Governor, Michael Myers, may substitute a new Lieutenant Governor running mate. South Dakota law permits such substitution for partisan candidates but has no such provision for independent candidates.
On August 11, the California Senate passed AB 2766, so the bill is through the legislature. It repeals the law that requires candidates for County Central Committee (from the Democratic, Republican, and American Independent Parties) to take a loyalty oath. The bill passed the Senate 23-12. Most Republican Senators voted “no”. The oath was declared unconstitutional in state court last year.
On August 12, U.S. District Court Judge David B. Hornby heard arguments in Woodhouse v Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, 1:14-266. This is the case that challenges Maine campaign finance limits, which let contributors give twice as much money to a candidate who runs in a partisan primary and then a general election, as to an independent candidate or the nominee of an unqualified party.
This story describes the oral argument. It appears that the hearing went well for the plaintiffs, who want to give more than is allowed to the independent candidate for Governor.