According to this story, Sue Wagner, who was Nevada’s Lieutenant Governor 1990-1994, has changed her registration from “Republican” to “independent.” Scroll down to the second half of the story; the first half is another topic. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
On January 27, Georgia asked for reconsideration in the Eleventh Circuit in Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 13-11816. This web page had previously reported that Georgia did not ask for reconsideration. However, it turns out that the rules permit reconsideration within three weeks of the original decision, not two weeks. BAN regrets the error.
The state’s brief, asking for reconsideration, says “It is unassailable that a signature requirement of 5% to qualify as a political body is valid.” This is not true. There are at least thirteen decisions that hold that petitions below 5% are unconstitutional, including one by the U.S. Supreme Court itself.
Courts do find that severe petitions, even if they are lower than 5% of the number of registered voters, are unconstitutional, if the evidence shows that it is obvious there is no need for the required number of signatures. These decisions include:
1. Alabama: Patton v Camp, 1990. A petition of 1% of the number of registered voters for an independent candidate was unconstitutional, given that a newly-qualifying party only needed a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.
2. Arkansas: Citizens to Establish a Reform Party in Arkansas v Priest, 1996. A petition of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote was unconstitutional, given that a statewide independent only needed 10,000 signatures.
3. Colorado: Ptak v Meyer, 1994. A petition of 1,000 signatures for legislature was unconstitutional, given that a U.S. House candidate only needed 500 signatures.
4. Florida: Danciu v Glisson, 1974. A petition of 5% of the registered voters for an independent candidate was unconstitutional, given that a newly-qualifying party needed 3% of the registered voters.
5. Illinois State Board of Elections, 1979. A petition of 5% of the last vote cast for for Mayor of Chicago was unconstitutional, given that the statewide petition was a smaller number, 25,000 signatures. This decision was unanimous and was from the U.S. Supreme Court.
6. Iowa: Oviatt v Baxter, 1992. A petition of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote for U.S. House was unconstitutional, given that the statewide petition was 1,000 signatures.
7. Kansas: Reagan v State, 1982. A petition of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote for newly-qualifying parties was unconstitutional, given that old qualified parties were permitted to remain on the ballot with no numerical showing of support and the old parties had never needed any petition.
8. Michigan: Socialist Workers Party v Secretary of State, 1982. A showing of support of three-tenths of 1% of the total vote cast in a primary was unconstitutional, given the historical record that showed in practice this was very difficult to achieve (this was a vote test in a primary).
9. New York: Rockefeller v Powers, 1996. A petition of 5% of the number of registered voters, for a presidential primary candidate within any particular U.S. House district in which he or she tried to qualify, was unconstitutional, given the historical record that showed in practice this was very difficult to achieve.
10. North Carolina: Delaney v Bartlett, 2004. A petition of 2% of the number of registered voters for statewide independents was unconstitutional, given that newly-qualifying parties only needed a petition of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote.
11. North Dakota: McLain v Meier, 1980. A petition of 15,000 signatures for newly-qualifying parties was unconstitutional, given the historical record that showed the petition, in practice, was so difficult it had only been used once in the 41 years it had existed.
12. Tennessee: Libertarian Party of Tennessee v Goins, 2010. A petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote for newly-qualifying parties was unconstitutional, given the historical record that showed the petition, in practice, was so difficult it had only been used once in the 69 years it had existed.
13. Tennessee: Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 2012. A petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote for newly-qualifying parties was unconstitutional, given that independent candidates only need 25 signatures.
According to this story, Pennsylvania has asked for reconsideration of the decision that struck down the state’s requirement that voters at the polls show a government photo-ID.
On January 27, the Greenville County, South Carolina, Republican Party filed its opening brief in the Fourth Circuit. The case is Greenville County Republican Party v Way, 13-2170. The issue is whether the county Republican Party may prevent non-Republicans from voting in its primaries, especially its municipal primaries.
In South Carolina, in cities with partisan city elections, political parties still pay for their own primaries. The party rents the polling places, hires individuals to adminster the election during the hours the polls are open, and pays individuals to count the votes. The party argues vociferously that, therefore, it has a right to limit voters in its primaries to party members. The brief presents evidence that officers of the Democratic Party, and even two state Democratic legislators, have voted in recent Republican primaries. The brief also presents evidence that tens of thousands of voters who voted in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary then voted in the following Republican county and city primaries.
The brief also argues that the state law making it very difficult for the county party to switch to nominating by convention is too restrictive. The state law says that if a state party, or a county party, wants to nominate by convention instead of primary, the resolution authorizing such a change must be approved by 75% of all the delegates to the party convention, whether they are present in the room or not.
Finally, the brief argues that a county political party does have standing to challenge the various election laws governing open primaries, because it is county parties, and also city parties, who administer the primaries for county and city office. The U.S. District Court had dismissed the lawsuit because it felt only a state party has standing to challenge the laws. Originally the state Republican Party had been a co-plaintiff, but during the course of the litigation in U.S. District Court, the state party dropped out of the lawsuit, after a new state chair replaced the former state chair.
On January 27, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a statewide initiative legalizing medical marijuana should remain on the ballot. Here is the decision in Advisory Opinion to the Attorney General re: Use of Marijuana for Certain Medical Conditions. The vote was 4-3. Opponents argued that the initiative violates the single subject rule, and also that the title is misleading.
