On October 10, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of two individuals who have organized statewide initiative petition drives in Arkansas in the recent past, and who hope to sponsor new initiatives in the near future. The lawsuit challenges restrictions placed on initiatives by the 2013 session of the legislature. The case is Spencer v Sealy, Pulaski Circuit Court, 60cv-13-4020. Here is the Complaint.

The challenged restrictions include: (1) the names and addresses of all paid circulators must be filed with the Secretary of State before those petitioners can start to work; (2) paid circulators must sign an oath that they have not been convicted of certain kinds of crime; (3) they must submit a picture of themselves that was taken within the last 90 days; (4) if a petition sheet contains the signature of even one voter who is from the wrong county for that sheet, the entire sheet is invalid; (5) the law makes it a criminal offense for a circulator to fill in any blanks on behalf of the voter, unless the voter is “disabled” (the law doesn’t define “disabled”); (6) if a petition sheet contains even one signature that has a “material defect” the entire sheet is invalid (the law doesn’t define “material defect”).

There will be a trial next month. This is the type of lawsuit that requires considerable evidence. The lawsuit is filed in state court because the state Constitution protects the initiative process, so the plaintiffs will argue that the new restrictions violate the State Constitution. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.

On October 16, both houses of Congress voted on HB 2775, the bill to re-open the federal government. Republicans who voted on the bill include 231 in the U.S. House and 45 in the U.S. Senate, totaling 276 Republican votes on the bill.

Among those 276 Republicans who voted on the bill, 135 were from states with open Republican primaries, 39 from states with semi-closed Republican primaries, 24 from states with a top-two primary, and 78 from states with closed Republican primaries. “Semi-closed” means that independents were permitted to vote in any party’s primary, although sometimes they had to join that party at the primary polling place immediately prior to voting.

Among the open primary states, 43 Republicans voted in favor of HR 2775, which was only 31.9% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Among the semi-closed primary states, 23 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 59.0% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Among the top-two primary states, 13 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 54.2% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

Finally, among the closed primary states, 35 Republicans voted “yes”, which was 44.9% of all Republicans from those states who voted on the bill.

States with open Republican primaries are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. States with semi-closed Republican primaries are Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. States with top-two primaries are California, Louisiana, and Washington. States with closed Republican primaries are Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. The states not named have no Republicans in Congress: Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

On October 17, the Virginia Libertarian Party filed this brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is Libertarian Party of Virginia v Judd, 13-231. The issue is Virginia’s ban on out-of-state petitioners. The state wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the law. The party’s brief argues that the lower courts were correct to invalidate the law.

The next step is that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to hear Virginia’s appeal. If the Court declines, then the case is over and the state can no longer enforce the ban.