Filing Closes for Florida Presidential Primaries

Posted on by November 23, 2023
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In Florida, the major parties, the only ones who have presidential primaries, have complete control over which candidates appear on the ballot. See this article about the eight Republicans who will be on the Florida Republican presidential primary: Ryan Binkley, Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Donald Trump.

The Republicans let anyone who paid the party $25,000, and who promised to appear at a statewide party rally. Also anyone who did not appear at the rally could get on with $100,000.

First Circuit Says John Anthony Castro Doesn’t Have Standing to Challenge Ballot Access for Former President Donald Trump

Posted on by November 23, 2023
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On November 21, the First Circuit issued an opinion in Castro v Scanlan, 23-1902. Here is the opinion. It says that John Anthony Castro, the Republican presidential candidate from Texas who has been suing to keep former President Donald Trump off various Republican primary ballots, does not have standing.

The decision says that Castro hadn’t even filed for the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot when he filed his lawsuit on September 5. Of course, no one had filed for that primary yet. But the decision then says that even if Castro had filed, he still wouldn’t have standing because his campaign in New Hampshire is so weak.

The decision is by Judge David J. Barron, an Obama appointee. It is also signed by Judges Gustavo Gelpi and Lara Montecalvo, who are Biden appointees. It does not express any opinion about other issues in cases like this. The U.S. District Court had also found that Castro lacked standing, and in addition the U.S. District Court said these type of cases are non-justiciable “political questions”, but the First Circuit didn’t settle that issue.

Utah Special Congressional Election Results

Posted on by November 22, 2023
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Utah held a special election on November 21 to fill the vacancy in the Second District. The results: Republican 57.35%; Democratic 33.73%; Libertarian 2.66%; Constitution 2.17%; United Utah 1.79%; independent Perry Myers 1.42%; independent Joe Buchman .84%. See the full results here.

When this seat was last up, in November 2022, the percentages had been: Republican 59.71%; Democratic 34.01%; United Utah 3.32%; Constitution 2.96%.

US District Court of North Dakota Chief Judge Rules in Favor of Native Americans Seeking Redistricting of Two ND Senate and Four ND House Districts

Posted on by November 18, 2023
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On November 17, 2023, US District Court of North Dakota Chief Judge Peter D. Welty, a Trump appointee, ruled that North Dakota State Senate Districts 9 and 15, and the two ND House Districts within each, were in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in an action brought against the State of North Dakota by two Native American tribes and three individuals.

Based on the Gingles case from the US Supreme Court, Judge Welte ruled that the plaintiffs met all three necessary conditions:

#1: The minority group . . . is sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district; and,

#2: The minority group . . . is politically cohesive; and,

#3: The white majority votes sufficiently as a bloc to enable it—in the absence of special circumstances . . . usually to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate.

The legislature and the ND Secretary of State have until December 22, 2023 to come up with a plan to remedy the situation, and the new districts will be used for the November 2024 elections.

His opinion has detailed analyses as to how he arrived at his opinion.

Here is Judge Welte’s decision.