On the afternoon of April 1, U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi refused to stay his own opinion in the New Jersey ballot format case. Then, four New Jersey counties each asked the Third Circuit to grant a stay. The case numbers are 24-1593, 24-1594, 24-1601, and 24-1602. They will be combined.
The We the People has finished its petition in signatures in North Carolina.. The We the People Party supports Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for president. See this story.
On April 1, the plaintiff-candidates who had sued 19 New Jersey counties over primary ballot format filed this brief in Kim v Hanlon, 3:24cv-1098. They argue that the U.S. District Court Judge should not stay his own order that mandates office-block ballots for the Democratic primary. They point out that only 14 of the 19 counties are even asking for a stay, and that Essex County, one of the 14 counties, says it can manage the upcoming June 4 if it must use office-block ballots.
As already reported, on Thursday evening, March 28, a U.S. District Court ordered office-group ballots for the June 4 primaries. On March 30, a Saturday, the judge, in response to a question from the Republican Party, clarified that his March 28 order only applies to the Democratic primary, not the Republican primary.
On March 30, fifteen county clerks asked the judge for a stay. But on March 30 Burlington County wrote to say it does not request a stay. On Sunday, March 31, the Hudson County Clerk said his office does not seek a stay either. It is quite unusual for different county governments to disagree with each other in a lawsuit in which they had all been sued.
Minnesota law professor David Schultz has written that the Democratic Party’s attempt to remove the Legal Marijuana Now Party from this year’s ballot probably violates due process. There are court precedents that states cannot toughen ballot access rules in the middle of the election season, including one that was summarily affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Hudler v Austin, from Michigan, 1976. See this story.
