On November 6, the plaintiffs in Frank v Lee, 21-8058, filed this request for reconsideration en banc in the Tenth Circuit. This is the case over the Wyoming law that does not permit political activity within 300 feet of the entrance to a polling place. The original 3-judge panel assigned to the case upheld the law last month.
Laws such as Wyoming’s make petitioning near the polls almost impossible.
Here is the story from Newsweek, which asserts that it is the biggest win in the history of the Libertarian Party.
Here is the news from FairVote.
On November 6, some Oregon Republican legislators filed a federal lawsuit, in order to win their right to run for re-election. They are currently barred from running for re-election because they boycotted too many sessions of the legislature. Under a new Oregon law, legislators who have too many unexcused absences cannot run for re-election. Linthicum v Wagner, 6:23cv-1624. Here is the Complaint, which charges that the First Amendment protects them, and that they are being punished for expressive activity. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, a Clinton appointee.
The legislators also have a pending case in the Oregon Supreme Court, which argues that the prohibition has been applied incorrectly to them, and that even if the prohibition is valid, it does not apply to them until the 2026 election.
Virginia elected all its legislators on November 7, 2023. Democrats kept majority control of the Senate and took control of the House. This might make it possible for a bill to pass next year, easing the strict definition of a qualified party. Existing law defines a qualified party as one that polled at least 10% for a statewide race in either of the last two elections.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are the only states that have not had a qualified third party since before 1998 (and in Georgia, there have been ballot-qualified third parties that were only on the ballot for statewide office, not district office).
In the recent past, Virginia Democratic legislators have sponsored bills to ease the Virginia definition of a party, but those bills have not passed due to Republican opposition.
