On December 9, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in Perry v Perez, 11A536, the lawsuit over Texas congressional and state legislative district boundaries. The hearing will be January 9, 2012, at 1 p.m. It is very rare for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments in the afternoon, but this case is being expedited, and the Court already had a full hearing schedule in the morning on that day.

This development makes it likely that Texas will postpone its primary, at least for U.S. House and state legislature. The primary had been expected to be held on March 6. If the primary is moved to May, that automatically improves the petition deadline for parties seeking a place on the November ballot, from May to July. It makes a somewhat similar improvement for non-presidential independent candidates.

Candidates expecting to run for office in Texas in 2012 had already started to file.

On December 8, Nancy Argenziano, a former Republican Florida state legislator, filed a lawsuit in state court, seeking to overturn the 2011 law that says no one may run in a partisan primary if that person were a registered member of another qualified party at any time in the last year before filing. The case is Argenziano v Browning, Leon County Circuit Court, 2011-ca-3484.

Argenziano wants to run for U.S. House in 2012 as a Democrat. She had registered out of the Republican Party months ago, but unfortunately for her, instead of registering as an independent (which would not have barred her from running in the Democratic primary next year), she accidentally registered as a member of the Independent Party, which has been a ballot-qualified party in Florida for over ten years.

Florida is in the process of decertifying certain qualified minor parties that have not complied with new requirements for party qualification, but the Independent Party has re-qualified and continues to be ballot-qualified.

Argenziano’s lawsuit would be far stronger if the Democratic Party of Florida would join her as a co-plaintiff. So far, however, Argenziano is the only plaintiff. In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court said that if a party wants to nominate a non-member, the U.S. Constitution protects its right to do that. The U.S. Supreme Court has found stronger legal protection for political parties than it has for candidates.

Ohio has been holding presidential primary elections every presidential election year starting in 1912. However, no party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties has ever had a presidential primary in Ohio. The Ohio election law says the presidential primary is mandatory for parties that polled at least 20% for Governor in the preceding election, but other qualified parties may have a presidential primary if they wish. However, no qualified minor party in Ohio has ever asked for one.

This year, the Green Party, which is ballot-qualified, expects to hold an Ohio presidential primary. Candidates who wish to be on the party’s primary ballot need to come up with a slate of delegates and then collect 500 signatures for the presidential candidate/delegate slate. Jill Stein, who is seeking the Green Party’s presidential nomination, expects to obtain a place on the party’s Ohio presidential primary.

The Ohio presidential primary is June 12, and the Green Party national convention is July 13-15.

It is not likely that any of Ohio’s other qualified minor parties will ask for a presidential primary. The Socialist Party has already nominated its candidate. The Constitution and Libertarian Parties scheduled their national conventions ahead of the date of the Ohio presidential primary. And Americans Elect prefers not to use any of its government-provided presidential primaries. Thanks to Ben Manski for this news.