A U.S. District Court in Chicago will hear Jones v McGuffage on Wednesday, January 30, at 1:30 p.m. This is the case filed by the Green Party to overturn the requirement that the party collect 15,682 valid signatures by February 2 if it wishes to run in the special April 2013 election for U.S. House, 2nd district. The case was filed on December 17, 2012, and is 1:12-cv-9997.
The Green Party and the Constitution Party sued Georgia over presidential ballot access on May 25, 2012. U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story dismissed the case on July 17, ruling that Jenness v Fortson (the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that upheld a 5% petition) precludes the lawsuit from having any chance of success.
A week later, the two parties filed a request for reconsideration, pointing out that both the U.S. Supreme Court, and more explicitly the 11th circuit itself, had ruled that Jenness v Fortson doesn’t control presidential election ballot access. The request for reconsideration is now six months old, and Judge Story has neither denied it, or granted a rehearing. He has simply done nothing. Such slow movement in a reconsideration request is very unusual. However, this delay is bad for the public interest. If Judge Story would act on the request for reconsideration now, the Georgia legislature could take cognizance of the issue and perhaps deal with the problem.
The Washington Secretary of State has determined that I-517 has enough valid signatures and will be on the November 2013 ballot. I-517 is an initiative that, if passed, would make it easier to qualify initiatives in Washington state. It expands the petitioning period from six months to one year, and outlaws various forms of harassment of petitioners. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.
On January 9, 2013, the Gary Johnson presidential campaign received another $121,755.77 in primary season matching funds from the Federal Election Commission. This is in addition to the December 19, 2012 payment of $202,026, and to amounts received earlier in 2012.
Therefore, the total amount of primary season matching funds that was received for the entire Johnson campaign now totals $632,016.75.
On November 5, the Florida Secretary of State notified that Florida Green Party that because the party’s financial report had been due on November 2, and it was not actually filed until November 3, the party owes a fine of $10,000. The party has appealed this decision. The party treasurer tried to file the report on November 2 electronically but computer problems made that impossible. The party points out that the report was only 15 hours late, and that the fine seems excessive, given that the party’s income and expenditures for the period covered by the Report were both under $1,000. As far as is known, the Florida Secretary of State has not yet ruled on the party’s appeal.
