On July 24, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission v Bennett, cv13-0233. This is the case in which supporters of public funding challenged new, higher campaign contribution limits for candidates who don’t participate in the public funding program. The State Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case doesn’t mean that the case is dead. It just means that the plaintiffs must start all over again in the trial court. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Every three months, the Arizona Secretary of State issues a new voter registration tally. Here is the July 1, 2013 tally. Compared to the April 1 tally, all three of the state’s minor parties, and the independent voters, have increased; the two major parties have decreased. The Libertarian Party now has more than 25,000 registered voters for the first time in its history.

The percentages for July 1, 2013 are: Republican 35.29%, independent 33.62%, Democratic 30.13%, Libertarian .78%, Green .162%, Americans Elect .009%.

The April 1, 2013 percentages were: Republican 35.40%, independent 33.34%, Democratic 30.36%, Libertarian .74%, Green .159%, Americans Elect .008%.

The Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties of Pennsylvania are currently fighting the Pennsylvania unique petition-challenge system in federal court. Pennsylvania is the only state in which, if a group submits a petition and challengers claim the petition lacks enough valid signatures, the political party or independent groups are at risk of paying up to $110,000 in court costs if the petition does indeed lack enough valid signatures.

The parties filed in U.S. District Court last year and that Court ruled that the parties lack standing. The three parties then filed an appeal in April 2013. The appeal has been stalled while the Third Circuit was waiting to see if the Pennsylvania Republican Party would again intervene in the case, as the Republicans had intervened in the U.S. District Court. Even though the Third Circuit gave the Republican Party extra time to file a notice of appearance, the party has not done so, and the final deadline for the Republicans to do that has now passed.