New Maine Trump Ballot Access Case is Pending

Posted on by March 29, 2024
8

On March 8, Donald Trump filed a new state court lawsuit against the Maine Secretary of State, also called Trump v Bellows.  It is in Kennebec Superior Court, just as the first such case was.

The first case was filed after the Secretary removed Trump from the Republican presidential primary ballot.  While it was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Colorado decision, and the very same day, the Maine Secretary of State revised her ruling to say that Trump should be on the ballot, given that states can’t enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.  But the ruling still kept its original finding that Trump had engaged in insurrection.

The new Trump lawsuit argues that the Secretary’s ruling on insurrection should be reversed.  Here is the Complaint.  The Secretary responds that the matter is moot.  The primary was held March 5 with Trump’s name on the ballot.

U.S. District Court Grants Preliminary Injunction Against New Jersey Discriminatory Ballot Format

Posted on by March 29, 2024
4

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.

Democratic Party Lawsuit to Stop Ranked Choice Voting Initiative Even Before it Qualifies is Dismissed

Posted on by March 29, 2024
14

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.