On July 6, the Maine Senate passed LD 769, which eases the definition of a qualified party. The bill had passed the House last month. The old definition of a qualified party was a group that had 5,000 registrants if it was in its first four years of legal existence, but afterwards had to have 10,000 registrants.
The bill eases that to simply define a qualified party as a group with 5,000 registrants, whether it is new or old.
On July 6, the most populous county in Texas, Harris County (which is coterminous with Houston) filed a lawsuit in state court against SB 1750, a bill that passed this year that deprives the county of control over election administration. The county cites the State Constitution, which forbids laws that single out just parts of the state. Here is the brief. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link. The case is Harris County v State of Texas.
The Libertarian Party of Canada was founded on Saturday, July 7, 1973, by Bruce Evoy of Toronto and seven other people.
Here are the party’s website and Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_of_Canada
Bruce Evoy, who was well known for his dramatic performances of Patrick Henry and other American patriots at US Libertarian Party conventions, passed away on July 8, 1998, 25 years ago tomorrow, at the age of 75.
A New Jersey state trial court will soon determine whether the term of the Republican Party Chair in Gloucester County is up this year or next. The state has statutes governing the matter, which appear to be in conflict with party bylaws.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections says it will consider the validity of the No Labels Party petition at its August meeting. The date hasn’t been set yet. The County Boards have already determined that No Labels has 14,797 valid signatures. The requirement is 13,757. See this story.
In 2022, after the County Boards had determined that the Green Party had enough valid signatures, the State Board (which has a Democratic majority) still refused to put the Green Party on the ballot. The Green Party sued, and a U.S. District Court ordered the Board to certify the party.
The Green Party case is still open for a decision on the constitutionality of the State Board’s action. The State Board has been trying to get it declared moot. If the State Board treats the No Labels Party the way it treated the Green Party in 2022, that will prove the case is not moot.
