On March 25, the Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the top-two ballot measure the legislature put on the 2014 ballot has technical flaws. MEA-MFT v State of Montana, OP 13-0789. Therefore, it cannot appear on this year’s November ballot. Here is the ten-page opinion, along with a two-page concurrence, and a 10-page dissent by Justice Laurie McKinnon.

Montana law says the title of a ballot measure put on the ballot by the legislature can’t exceed 100 words. The legislature had written a ballot title of almost 200 words. The title is lengthy because it includes all the election code sections being amended. The legislature had then defended itself in this lawsuit by saying that code section references, which are numbers, aren’t words. But the majority on the Supreme Court disagreed. Five of the justices also felt the title is confusing.

The 2013 session of the legislature had put the measure on the ballot because the majority of legislators are Republicans, and were upset that in 2012, the Libertarian Party nominees for Governor and U.S. Senator prevented either major party nominee from receiving a majority of the vote. Democrats won both elections. The Republican majority in the legislature in 2013 then determined that if Montana had a top-two system, there would be no more minor party candidates on the general election. The majority didn’t simply pass a bill for a top-two system because if it had passed an ordinary bill, the Democratic Governor would have vetoed it. But by putting a ballot measure on the ballot, the legislature was able to bypass the Governor.

If the legislature were in session in 2014, in theory the majority could pass a new top-two measure that has fewer than 100 words in its title. The opinion says there is no requirement that the title include all the code sections being amended. However, the legislature is not in session this year. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.

The only statewide office on the ballot in Missouri this year is Auditor. The only three candidates who have filed in any party’s primary are the Republican incumbent, Tom Schweich; the Libertarian, Sean O’Toole, and the Constitution Party candidate, Rodney Farthing.

An independent candidate, or a newly-qualifying party, could still enter the race with a petition signed by 10,000 signatures, due in late July.

Parties stay on the ballot in Missouri by polling 2% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. Therefore, because parties remain on the ballot for two elections after meeting the vote test, the Democratic Party will retain its status as a qualified party, notwithstanding its failure to run anyone this year.

The Green Party could easily recover its qualified party status in Missouri by submitting 10,000 valid signatures this year and running someone for Auditor. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.

On March 25, the Fourth Circuit refused to reconsider Pisano v Strach, the case that challenges the North Carolina petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The Fourth Circuit had upheld that deadline on February 27. The request for reconsideration pointed out that neither the U.S. District Court, nor the original Fourth Circuit opinion, had let the parties conduct discovery. The purpose of the discovery would have been to show that the state doesn’t really need a May petition deadline in order to check all the signatures in time for the November election. It seems obvious that the state doesn’t need that much time, because it has a June deadline (almost a month later) for independent candidate petitions, and they require just as many signatures if they are for a statewide independent. Also in 1988 the North Carolina Board of Elections let the New Alliance Party submit its petitions in July, without any apparent difficulty. Also in 2004, the state set a July deadline for all independent candidate petitions.

Given the bad weather in the southeastern states this winter, it is difficult to understand how any rational person thinks it is constitutional to force newly-qualifying parties to obtain almost 90,000 valid signatures in the winter and early spring.