On March 31, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a two-page opinion that affirms the lower court ruling, and keeps Jonathan Narcisse off this year’s June 3 Democratic primary ballot. The issue was whether his petition had enough valid signatures. He was eleven signatures short because 35 of his petition sheets omitted the office he is running for. The Iowa Supreme Court opinion does not discuss the issue, except to say the lower court was correct. The opinion will not be published.
March 31 was the deadline for candidates in this year’s primary to submit a petition in New Jersey. In the 7th U.S. House district, no Democrat succeeded in getting on the ballot. The law requires 200 signatures of registered party members. The only Democrat who tried, Janice Kovach, says the failure was due to a miscommunication. See this story.
Democrats can nominate someone at their June 3 primary by write-in vote. The winner must not only outpoll all other write-in candidates, but must obtain at least 200 write-in votes.
In the November 2012 election, the vote in this district was: Leonard Lance, Republican, 175,662; Upendra Chivukula, Democrat, 123,057; Dennis Breen, Independent Reform, 4,518; Patrick McKnight, Libertarian, 4,078. The district is in northern New Jersey and runs from the Delaware River to some outer suburbs of New York city. Thanks to William Fenwick for the link.
On March 31, U.S. District Court Judge Sue Robinson enjoined a Delaware campaign finance law passed in 2012. Delaware Strong Families v Biden, 1:13cv-1746. The law requires groups that spend at least $500 to comment on candidates for state office, to disclose the names of everyone who contributes at least $100 to that group.
If the law only concerned commentary that urges voters to vote for or against candidates, it probably would have not have been enjoined. But the Delaware law even applies to groups that publish neutral commentary or information about candidates. In this particular case, the group just wanted to publish a voter guide.
On March 28, the Eleventh Circuit denied a request from Georgia to rehear Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 13-11816. The state’s request had been pending since January 27. The issue is whether Georgia’s ballot access procedures for president (for minor parties and independent candidates) is too difficult. A petition of 1% of the number of registered voters is required, and each petition sheet must be notarized. Approximately 50,000 signatures are required. No one has completed that petition in Georgia in 14 years.
The U.S. District Court had upheld the law without even waiting for evidence to be entered into the record, but the 11th circuit had sent the case back to the U.S. District Court, with language indicating that the requirement is somewhat likely to be unconstitutional. Now the U.S. District Court will hold a trial.
On March 31,a Mercer County Superior Court struck down some New Jersey restrictions on who can circulate a petition. Here is the 48-page opinion in Empower our Neighborhoods v Guadagno, L-3148-11.
In 2007, in a case filed by several minor parties, in-district residency requirements for circulators of independent candidate petitions for federal and state office had been struck down (the state had conceded the requirements were unconstitutional, no so decision was actually issued). In the Empower Our Neighborhoods case, in-district residency requirements for circulators in partisan county and city elections are also struck down. The decision also strikes down in-district residency requirements for recall petitions and petitions to place someone on a primary ballot.
However, the decision upholds the requirement that circulators of a primary petition must be a member of the same party. The decision does not decide whether out-of-state residents should be allowed to circulate petitions in New Jersey, nor does it decide whether non-citizens, or persons aged 16-18 should be allowed to be circulators.
The New Jersey Republican Party, which was a defendant along with the Secretary of State, vigorously tried to defend the law that doesn’t let anyone circulate a primary petition unless that circulator lives in the district, but that requirement was still struck down. Thanks to Flavio Komuves for the link.
