On December 2, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that it will not hear Virginia’s appeal in Judd v Libertarian Party of Virginia, 13-231. This is the case on the constitutionality of Virginia’s ban on out-of-state circulators.

Because the Libertarian Party has now definitely won this case, it is likely that a bill will be introduced in the 2014 Virginia legislature to repeal the ban. It is hoped that the Libertarian Party will be able to persuade the legislature to make other ballot access improvements in the same bill. The obvious flaw with Virginia’s ballot access laws is that the vote test for party status is excessive. The median vote test of the 50 states is 2%, but Virginia’s is 10%.

In 2011, the Wisconsin legislature passed one of the nation’s most severe laws concerning photo-ID for voters who vote at the polls. The new law has not been enforced yet and has been in litigation since 2011. The first federal lawsuit filed against the law, Frank v Walker, eastern district 2:11cv-1128, had a trial November 4-8, 2013, and post-trial briefs are due December 20. The case is before U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman, a Clinton appointee. Unlike some other cases, this case has over a dozen voter-plaintiffs who make a compelling case that they cannot obtain the type of ID that the law requires, at least without a substantial cost and effort. Here is a New York Times editorial about the lawsuit. Here is a copy of the Complaint. Thanks to ElectionLaw@Moritz for that link.

Paul Zukerberg, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for District of Columbia Attorney General, says he has been ordered by the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance not to spend any money campaigning. See this story. The D.C. Government argues that even though the voters amended the charter to elect the Attorney General starting in 2014, the government does not intend to hold such an election. Zukerberg has been in federal court and is about to go to the district’s own court to force the election to be held. Thanks to Political Activity Law for the link.