On July 14, the San Juan County Green Party in Washington state, and four voters, asked the Washington State Supreme Court to stop the practice of printing unique bar codes on ballots, in the 24 counties where that is done. The case is White v Reed, no. 83342-7. Here is the complaint. The lead plaintiff is Tim White, a member of the Green Party who was recently the Cemetary District Commissioner for Orcas Island, an elected non-partisan post.

The lawsuit asks the State Supreme Court to take the case without first requiring it to be heard in lower courts. However, in case that request is denied, there is a parallel case pending in lower state court in San Juan County, called White v Henley.

Washington state has 39 counties, and 15 of them do not print unique bar codes on individual ballots. The lawsuit depends on the state Constitution, which says that the Legislature will “provide for such method of voting as will secure to every elector absolute secrecy in preparing and depositing his ballot.” Thanks to Brent McMillan for this news.

The Los Angeles Times has this story about the U.S. District Court hearing in Alan Keyes v Barack Obama, cv09-82, held on July 13 in the Central District of California (in Santa Ana). The case, brought by attorney Orly Taitz, argues that President Obama’s qualifications to hold the office of President should be evaluated. U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter, a Clinton appointee, asked the U.S. attorneys present in court to work with Taitz to see that the Defendants are properly served, so that the case can proceed.

The plaintiffs in the case now are Alan Keyes, Wiley S. Drake, and Markham Robinson of the American Independent Party. Taitz plans to add some co-plaintiffs who are members of the U.S. military, to fend off the opposition’s inevitable argument that Keyes, Drake and Robinson lack standing. Members of the military are already plaintiffs in certain other cases concerning the constitutional qualifications, on the theory that they need not obey orders if the Commander-in-Chief does not meet the constitutional qualifications.

On July 13, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1074, another omnibus election law bill. The only ballot access implications in SB 1074 are that the bill moves the non-presidential primary from 9 weeks before the general election, to 10 weeks. Therefore, in 2010, Arizona will hold its primary on August 24, the earliest non-presidential primary in Arizona history.

The date change means that the non-presidential independent candidate deadline moves a week earlier, to May 26. There is no logical reason why the independent candidate petition deadline is keyed to the date of the primary, but in Arizona, that is how it is done. The petition to recognize a party also moves a week earlier, to March 4.