On July 13, U.S. District Court Judge William Zloch issued a procedural opinion in LaCasa v Townsley, the case over whether non-Democrats should be allowed to vote in the August 2012 primary in Florida for one particular partisan office, State Attorney in Miami-Dade County. The order says the original complaint is flawed, because the plaintiffs didn’t sue the Secretary of State; they just sued the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. The order instructs the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint. Here is the order.

The case is still being expedited. The next oral argument will be on July 23 at 10 a.m. The reason the plaintiffs want non-Democrats to be able to vote in the Democratic primary is that the only two candidates who filed to be on the primary ballot are both Democrats, and there are no independent candidates in the race. There are two write-in candidates in the general election, so under Florida law, as interpreted by the Secretary of State, only registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary. If the two write-in candidates had not filed, Florida law says that because only Democrats are running for the office, all voters may vote in the Democratic primary for that office.

On July 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, upheld the Postal Service regulation that bans obtaining signatures on interior postal sidewalks. The case is Initiative & Referendum Institute v U.S. Postal Service, 10-5337. The regulation was created in 2000 and this case had been filed in 2000. Here is the decision.

The opinion is written by Judge Thomas B. Griffith, a Bush Jr. appointee. It upholds the regulation partly because, in 2010, the Postal Service amended the regulation and said that individuals are free to stand on interior postal sidewalks and ask passers-by to sign a petition. But, the act of signing is not permitted on the sidewalk. Instead, the passer-by must be told that if he or she wishes to sign the petition, he or she must go to an adjoining area where the signature can be affixed to the petition. In effect, this virtually requires that petitioners work in teams, one to stand on the interior post office sidewalk and solicit the signature, and another to be stationed nearby, but off the post office sidewalk. Obviously this is very inefficient.

Judge Janice Rogers Brown, another Bush Jr. appointee, signed the Griffith opinion, and yet wrote separately to say the policy makes no sense. She concludes her separate opinion to say, “The Postal Service may conclude, on further reflection, that the present compromise causes more confusion and disruption than it abates. In that case, the Service may decide to do what is sensible and permit the entire signature-gathering encounter — for that would surely not be unreasonable.” The third judge in this case, Karen Henderson, a Bush Sr. appointee, merely signed the Griffith opinion and did not write separately.

Reportedly, national leaders of Americans Elect are planning to ask state officials to de-certify the party, in all the states in which the party is now ballot-qualified. However, there is no legal precedent that gives state or national party leaders the legal ability to take that step.

In 1986, Adlai E. Stevenson III formed the Illinois Solidarity Party, got it on the ballot, and ran as its nominee for Governor of Illinois. He polled 40%, far more than the amount needed to give the party qualified status for the next four years. He had set out at the beginning of the year to be the Democratic Party nominee for Governor, but even though he won the party’s nomination at the March primary, he resigned from the ticket and created the Illinois Solidarity Party because a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche had won the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor. If Stevenson had remained the Democratic nominee, he would have been forced to run as part of a joint ticket with the LaRouche supporter in November.

After the 1986 election was over, Stevenson and other Democrats who had created the party did not desire to see the Illinois Solidarity Party on the ballot in Illinois in 1988 or 1990. But, they did not believe they had the legal authority to cause the party to lose its qualified status. Instead, Democrats in the 1987 session of the legislature passed SB 10, giving the party officers the ability to end the legal existence of the party. Governor James Thompson, a Republican, vetoed the bill. The New Solidarity Party then participated in the 1988 and 1990 elections as a ballot-qualified party. In those elections, it fell under the control of New Alliance Party activists, and its 1988 presidential nominee was Lenora Fulani.

States in which Americans Elect is currently ballot-qualified are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.