On March 29, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary injunction in the lawsuit over New Jersey ballot format in primary elections.  He ordered the 19 counties that don’t use an office-block style to switch to office-block ballots for the June 4, 2024 Democratic and Republican primaries.  Kim v Hanlon, 3:24cv-1098.

Here is the 49-page opinion.  The first 28 pages deal with procedural objections to the lawsuit, and disputes over which expert witnesses could testify.  The merit portion of the opinion starts on page 29.

The case is not over, but it is extremely likely that the discriminatory ballot format will be held unconstitutional, if the legislature doesn’t pass a bill making the change before the case ends.

The New Jersey general election ballots in 19 of the 21 counties are equally discriminatory against minor party and independent candidates.  It will be interesting to see if the general election ballot format gets reformed.

On March 28, a District of Columbia Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party to stop an initiative from qualifying.  The initiative hasn’t even gathered the signatures yet, yet the Democratic Party had been hoping to block it.  The judge said the lawsuit isn’t ripe, and could be filed again if the initiative qualifies and passes.  The initiative also would change the law to let independent voters vote in partisan primaries, but it is not an initiative that abolishes the ability of parties to have nominees.

The case is District of Columbia Democratic Party v Bowser, 2023-CAB-4732.

On March 28, the Georgia legislature passed an election law bill that has varied topics, including a provision added only eight days earlier that eases ballot access for minor parties for President (but no other office).

SB 189 was introduced over a year ago, and only related to how electronic vote-counting machines count votes.  It sat dormant until January 25, 2024, when it began to move through the Senate.  It passed the Senate on Febraury 6, 2024.  Then, on March 20, in the House, it was amended to include the ballot access provision.  The Senate accepted that change and both houses passed it on the evening of March 28.  Then the legislature adjourned.  Here is the text.

The provision says if a political party or political body is on the ballot for president in at least 20 other states, then it is automatically on for president in Georgia.  However, it does not cover independent presidential candidates.  Assuming it is signed into law, it will help the No Labels, Green, and Constitution Parties.  It won’t help Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., because he expects to be an independent candidate in almost all states, not a minor party nominee.  At the most his “We the People Party” will only be on in six states.

The Libertarian Party is already on the ballot for president and other statewide offices.  It is not clear if the 2012 court order requiring the state to let presidential candidates on the ballot with at least 7,500 signatures is still in effect.  Logically, because the legislature didn’t change the law regarding independent candidates, it should still be in effect for independent presidential candidates.