On July 19, a U.S. District Court denied injunctive relief to a New York voter who recently changed his registration from “independent” to being a member of the Independence Party. Van Allen v State Board of Elections, 1:07-cv-722, Albany.

New York is the only state that won’t let a voter join a party and have that membership take effect immediately. Instead, such a voter isn’t considered a member of the party until the following year. Van Allen’s case would have been stronger if he had been joined in the lawsuit by the Independence Party of New York. Political parties have powerful First Amendment rights of association. If a political party and a voter would join together in a lawsuit, the lawsuit would probably win. The ostensible state interest in the law is to protect political parties from people who are not joining because they believe in the party, but because they just want to vote in its primary. But if a party were to say it doesn’t need that protection, the case would be strong.

Iowa newspapers on July 19 reported the news that Iowans will soon be able to register in certain political parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. See here for one of these stories. As noted on this blog on June 27, unqualified parties that submit 850 signatures will be entitled to a list of the names and addresses of people who register into those parties. The voter registration form will contain a blank line labelled “Other” for the “political party” question, in addition to the 3 old choices of “Democratic”, “Republican” and “independent.”

On June 8, 2007, a federal lawsuit on the subject of where circulators may work was successfully settled. The cities of Grand Island and Omaha issued memos to their employees saying, “Petition signature gathering is permitted on the exterior areas of library property, including the connecting walkways.”

The city of Lincoln issued a memo to its employees, saying “All city departments may have contact with people exercising various First Amendment rights, including, but not limited to, petition signature gatherers. Please be aware that the First Amendment allows a great deal of latitude to people exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Douglas County issued a memo letting people petition in the common exterior areas of the County Hall of Justice and Civic Center Complex.

This case, Groene v Seng, 4:06cv3153, had been filed in 2006. The various governmental departments paid attorneys fees of $100,000 and settled the lawsuit with no need for a judicial opinion.