Indiana Farmer Sues State Over Exclusion from May 2024 Republican Primary Ballot for US Senate

Posted on by September 21, 2023
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Seymour, Indiana farmer John Rust has sued the State of Indiana over its law that bars him from a Republican Primary ballot because he did not vote in the last two GOP primaries and did not get the permission of his Jackson County GOP Chair to run.

Mr. Rust asserts that that law bars 81% of Indiana voters from competing in that state’s electoral politics.

Here is a story on this matter.  The case is State and Rust v Morales, 49D13-2309-PL-036487.  It is pending in Superior Court, Marion County, a state trial court.

New York Governor Press Release Somehow Fails to Mention State’s Horrible Ballot Access Laws

Posted on by September 21, 2023
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This September 20, 2023 press release from New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office touting her signature on several bills regarding the people’s voting rights certainly is rich.

In 2020, the New York legislature and Governor passed legislation that tripled the number of signatures (15,000 to 45,000) for minor party statewide candidates to qualify for the General Election ballot without increasing the six week period allowed for gathering the signatures. Additionally, if candidates can actually now make the ballot, the legislation more than doubled the number of votes necessary to remain on the ballot and changed that vote test so that it applied to Governor and President every two years, instead of only Governor every four years.

If the New York General Assembly really wanted to do something for the voters of their state, restoring ballot access laws to what they were before the 2020 laws should be at the top of their list.

Twenty African-American Office-Holders in Alabama Ask U.S. Supreme Court Not to Issue a Stay in Redistricting Case

Posted on by September 21, 2023
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On September 21, twenty African-American office-holders in Alabama asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to issue a stay of new U.S. House districts.  They include Congressmember Terri Sewell, the Mayors of Birmingham and Montgomery, eleven state legislators, a county commissioner, and five other city elected officials.  Here is their brief.

No Labels Registration in Arizona Now Exceeds 15,000

Posted on by September 21, 2023
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According to this news story, over 15,000 Arizona registered voters have become members of the No Labels Party.  The Secretary of State’s website has not yet posted any data later than July 1, 2023, but the October 1 figure will be posted soon.  Apparently the reporters for this story got the data from individual counties.

As of July 1, No Labels had 8,505 registrants.  At that July tally, the Libertarian Party was still larger than No Labels, with 33,738 members.

If No Labels reaches approximately 29,000 registrants by next year, it will be ballot-qualified for 2026 as well as for 2024, even if it doesn’t run any presidential nominee in 2024.  In Arizona, a party that has two-thirds of 1% registration remains on the ballot.  Thanks to Richard Grayson for the link.

Lawrence Lessig Argues that Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, Does Not Apply to Donald Trump

Posted on by September 20, 2023
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Law professor Lawrence Lessig here writes that the 14th amendment, section 3, does not apply to former President Donald Trump.  He argues that “insurrection” is different from protest, even illegal protest.

He could have also argued that section 3 cannot be used to prevent any voter from voting for anyone the voter wishes to vote for; that instead it only relates to who can be sworn into the office.  But he did not make that argument.

He advocates that Congress exercise the power given to it in section 3, to declare by a two-thirds vote that Donald Trump is not barred from the presidency.  Thanks to HowAppealing for the link.