Illinois has the second-highest petition requirement for minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House, 5% of the last vote cast. Only Georgia is more severe. Nevertheless, four independent candidates are petitioning to get on the ballot in the 4th district in Chicago. That is because the Democratic nominee, Patty Garcia, is unpopular because of the way she got on the ballot. The incumbent, Jesus Garcia, told almost no one that he wasn’t running for re-election in the March primary, but he did tell Patty Garcia. So by the time the news spread, it was too late for other Democrats to petition for the primary ballot. Congressman Garcia was censured on the floor of the U.S. House for this behavior.

That motivated four Democrats to start independent petition drives to get on the November ballot. In addition, the Working Class Party is ballot-qualified in the Fourth District, and it is running a candidate. See this story.

The Eighth Circuit will hear Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940, on Tuesday, June 9. This is the case over the February petition deadline for South Dakota initiatives. The lower court had struck it down on free speech grounds, reasoning that petitioning is free speech activity, and excluding such petitioning from months in the late winter and early spring of election years violates the First Amendment.

An earlier South Dakota case on the deadline for initiatives had struck down the old November deadline (of the year before the election) under the same reasoning. That case was South Dakota Voice v Noem, 21-3195. The three judges in that case included James B. Loken, a Bush Sr. appointee, and Raymond Gruender, a Bush Jr. appointee. The upcoming hearing next month will be before those two judges, as well as Jane Kelly, an Obama appointee. Unlike many other circuits, the Eighth Circuit reveals in advance of hearings who the judges will be.

One cannot assume that because Judges Loken and Gruender struck down November of the year before the election, that they will necessarily be inclined to strike down February of the election year. Nevertheless, it seems encouraging that those two judges are on the panel. If the plaintiffs win this case, that will be a powerful precedent against early petition deadlines for new parties and independent candidates.

On May 8, a 3-judge U.S. District Court refused to clear the way for Alabama to draw new U.S. House district boundaries. Allen v Milligan, n.d., 2:21cv-1530. Here is the six-page ruling, which says only the U.S. Supreme Court can take that step.

The state has now put the matter in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is the state’s filing. Allen v Milligan, 25A1231.