On May 28, Andrew W. Bell asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case over Georgia’s lack of due process when it checks the validity of independent candidate petitions. Bell v Rafflesperger, 23-7684. Here is his cert petition. He submitted approximately 2,000 signatures in 2020 when trying to run for the State House, but election officials said only about 700 were valid, and gave him no opportunity to contest that ruling.
On June 25, Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-Pa.) introduced the “Right to Vote Act” in the U.S. House. It is the same bill that was introduced in the U.S. Senate several months ago, S.3916. It only applies to elections for federal office. Here is the text.
The oldest pending ballot access case in the nation is Cowen v Raffensperger, which was filed in 2017 to challenge the Georgia ballot access law for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, in U.S. House races. The case is still in U.S. District Court. Both sides have filed briefs this month, over whether the Libertarian Party can amend its Complaint to take account of the latest change made by the legislature.
Earlier this year, the Georgia legislature eased the procedure for minor party presidential ballot access. The new law says if a party is on the ballot in at least 20 states or territories, it can be on for president automatically in Georgia. Although the new law didn’t amend the law relating to U.S. House, the new law affects the arguments. Georgia has now passed a law saying a minor party can be on for president even though potentially, that minor party might have no voter support whatsoever inside Georgia. This undermines the state’s claim that it would suffer severe harm if a candidate ever got on the ballot (for any office) without having any voter support.
In the new round of briefs, the Secretary of State says the Libertarian Party should file an entirely new case, but the Libertarian Party says that would be inefficient and is not necessary. The next step will be a decision from the judge as to whether the Complaint can be amended.
On June 6, the Illinois legislature passed HB 4488, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates,, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from June to May. As of June 25, Governor J. B. Pritzker still hasn’t acted on the bill.
Because the petition deadline was yesterday, that means the bill can’t take effect this year, even though it is worded to take effect immediately.
Henry Wallace in 1948 was only certified for the ballot in eleven states, at the time of the Progressive Party’s presidential convention, held July 24-25. See Curtis MacDougall’s history book about the Wallace campaign, “Gideon’s Army”, page 445, volume two. Those eleven states only had 192 electoral votes.
