Maryland’s Highest State Court Construes Law on Petition-Checking in an Unfavorable Manner

Posted on by May 21, 2012
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On May 21, the highest state court in Maryland, the State Court of Appeals, interpreted Maryland election law to mean that signatures on petitions are invalid if there is no exact match in the name on the voter registration record, and the name on the petition. As a result, the Libertarian Party and the Green Party do not have enough valid signatures on their petitions for 2012, and must now get more before the August 6 deadline. Here is the 36-page unanimous decision, which is called Maryland State Board of Elections v Libertarian Party of Maryland, 11-79. UPDATE: see this article.

The Court also construed the law to mean that if a voter signs the petition the first time using a nickname or other variant of the name that doesn’t match, that voter is not then free to re-sign another sheet of the petition with the precisely correct name.

Maryland requires 10,000 signatures for ballot access for new parties. The Libertarian Party is now deemed to have only 6,583 valid signatures, and the Green Party now has only 5,919 valid signatures.

The Court took pains to say that it is not deciding whether the strict standard is constitutional or not. It says it cannot decide that question because the case was not presented to it as a constitutional question. Reading between the lines, it is overwhelmingly likely that the Court decided this case in this hostile manner because the judges are not sympathetic to various referenda petitions being circulated. The judges probably believe that the Libertarian and Green Parties, and other minor parties, will be able to qualify despite the ruling, because the number of valid signatures they still need is a small number. The real impact of this decision will be to make it virtually impossible for referendum petitions to succeed, including one that would put same-sex marriage to a popular vote. Referendum petitions covering statewide issues need approximately 60,000 valid signatures.

Pennsylvania Minor Parties File New Lawsuit Against Petition-Checking Procedure that Threatens Petitioners with Huge Court Costs if Petition is Insufficient

Posted on by May 21, 2012
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On May 17, the Pennsylvania Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties filed a new federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania system for checking petitions. The system, ever since 2004, has put petitioning candidates in jeopardy of paying court costs of up to $100,000 if their petitions are found to lack enough valid signatures. The case is in the eastern district, in Philadelphia. Here is the complaint. The first affidavit also starts at that link. Here is are the following pages of that affidavit, plus some other affidavits. And here is the last set of affidavits.

The case, Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele, 5:12-cv-2726, was assigned to Judge Lawrence Stengel, the same U.S. District Court judge who ruled in a similar case in 2009 that the plaintiff parties lack standing. This time, the complaint has been designed to withstand that peril.

Pennsylvania and Alabama are the only states in which no statewide minor party or independent candidates appeared on the ballot in any non-presidential election year, during the period 2005 to the present. All the statewide minor party petitions filed in 2010 in Pennsylvania were withdrawn after major party leaders threatened to challenge those petitions. In 2006, the only statewide petition submitted by a minor party or independent candidate was the Green Party petition, and the party’s U.S. Senate nominee, Carl Romanelli, was ordered to pay over $80,000 when that petition was found lacking in enough valid signatures. The only statewide minor party or independent petitions that have succeeded in Pennsylvania in the last seven years are the 2008 Libertarian petition and the 2008 independent Ralph Nader petition.

Illinois Libertarian Party Likely to Gain Ongoing Ballot Status in at Least One State Legislative District

Posted on by May 21, 2012
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The Illinois Libertarian Party is running Chad Grimm for State Representative in the 92nd district, which includes Peoria. No Republican is running in this race, so if Grimm gets on the November ballot, he is very likely to poll at least 5% of the vote, and make the Libertarian Party ballot-qualified in this district for 2014. See this story. Currently the Libertarian Party isn’t ballot-qualified in any legislative or U.S. House district. When Illinois goes through redistricting, all of the qualified parties that are qualified in just a single district lose their qualified status, because invariably the district lines change somewhat. When the district changes its boundaries, the state assumes that it is an entirely new district and the old status vanishes.

Grimm will need 1,500 signatures by June 25. The Libertarian Party has a lawsuit pending against that deadline, however, so it is possible it will get more time. Thanks to Robert Allensworth for the link.

Chicago Democratic Leaders Will Create a Minor Party in a Single Legislative District This Year to Oust a Democratic Incumbent Who Has Been Indicted

Posted on by May 21, 2012
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On March 13, the federal government charged Illinois Democratic State Representative Derrick Smith with bribery. Nevertheless, on March 20, Smith was renominated in the Democratic primary. His only opponent in the Democratic primary in the 10th district was Tom Swiss, a former executive director of the Cook County Republican Party. Also, the district is majority black, and Swiss is white.

Democratic Party leaders supported Smith in the Democratic primary, because they didn’t want an individual winning the Democratic primary who was, apparently, loyal to the Republican Party. But they hoped to persuade Smith to withdraw after the primary was over. However, he says he is innocent, and has pleaded not guilty, and he won’t withdraw. So Democratic Party leaders now plan to create the Tenth District Unity Party and place it on the November ballot. On May 22 the leaders of this new party will choose a nominee. Six candidates have applied for the new party’s nomination. See this story. The new party will need a petition of 1,500 names. If it gets at least 5% of the vote in November, it will also be ballot-qualified in 2014. It is somewhat likely that the nominee of this new party will win the November election. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.