On July 19, an appeal was filed to the Second Circuit in Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, 23-1054. This is the lawsuit over the May petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, in New York. The U.S. District Court had upheld the deadline on July 10, 2023. The case had been filed by supporters of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown in 2021. After he had lost the June 2021 primary for re-election, he had circulated a petition to be an independent candidate. But because the 2019 legislature had moved the independent deadline from August to May, his petition was too late.

He still got re-elected in November 2021, on write-in votes. The U.S. District Court had ruled that the burden of the early deadline was “slight”. But the burden on the voters who wanted to vote for Mayor Brown was not slight. Forcing him to be a write-in candidate made it more difficult for voters to vote for him. Also, his voters were not treated equally, because voters who wanted to vote for his opponent in November did not need to cast a write-in vote. It is difficult to understand how the U.S. District Court considered this a “slight” burden, given that a majority of voters in the November election were affected.

This is a timely commentary on the importance of citizen initiatives, particularly with the upcoming Tuesday, August 8 special election on Issue 1 in Ohio.

Final paragraph:

The vast majority of Americans will have more than two names on their presidential ballot, as has reliably been the case for most of my lifetime. If major parties and their enthusiasts in the press and academia want to dissuade voters from supporting minor candidates, then they should consider taking heed of their nominees’ massive unfavorability ratings, rather than accusing free individuals exercising their franchise of ushering in American fascism.

Here is the entire article.