Ohio Legislature Approves Bill Requiring Constitutional Initiatives to Pass with 60%, and Making the Petition More Difficult

Posted on by May 10, 2023
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On May 10, the Ohio House passed SJR2, which is a proposed constitutional amendment. It would require initiatives that amend the constitution to pass with 60%. Also it makes it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. Assuming the measure is signed, initiative petitions will need a substantial amount of support in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Also the “cure” period, to fix any flaws in the initiative, is abolished.

The bill also says that voters will vote on it on August 8, 2023, at a time when nothing else is on the ballot.

Some legal experts believe that it is illegal to set the August 8 election date in a resolution, instead of a bill.

California Independent Voters Who Wish to Vote in a Presidential Primary Ask California Supreme Court to Hear Their Appeal

Posted on by May 10, 2023
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On May 1, the California voters who feel that the state must permit independent voters to cast a vote in any presidential primary asked the State Supreme Court to hear their appeal. Boydston v Jones. California already lets parties decide for themselves whether to let independent voters vote in that party’s presidential primary. In 2020, the Democratic, American Independent, and Libertarian Parties allowed independents to vote in their presidential primaries. But the voters who filed the lawsuit want the ability to cast a vote for a presidential candidate running in the Republican, Green, or Peace & Freedom presidential primaries.

The State Court of Appeals, and the Superior Court, had ruled against the plaintiff-voters.

Georgia Republican Party May Change Party Rules to Restrict Primary Ballot Access

Posted on by May 9, 2023
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The Georgia Republican Party holds a state convention June 9-10. A group of Republican activists is pushing to persuade the convention to change the rules for Republican primary ballot access. The proposal would say that no one can run in a Republican primary who has not received support from the state convention in advance of the primary.

In 1996, the Eleventh Circuit ruled in Duke v Cleland, 87 F 3d 1226, that the Georgia Republican Party has a freedom of association right to exclude anyone it wishes from its presidential primary ballot. The Georgia Republican Party thus won the right to exclude David Duke from the 1992 primary, and ever since no one can get on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Georgia without the permission of the party leadership. So it seems if this proposed rule passes, it would withstand a court attack. Already Alabama allows parties to exclude any candidates from their primary ballots, for any reason. Alabama is also in the Eleventh Circuit.

The Eleventh Circuit said in Duke v Cleland, “Duke’s supporters were not foreclosed from supporting him as an independent candidate, or a third-party candidate, in the general election.”

The Georgia rules change is promoted by the Georgia Republican Assembly, a group within the party that does not support Republican Party officials such as Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The proposal needs to be approved by the state party Rules Committee before it can get a vote at the state convention.

U.S. Supreme Court Extends Deadline for New York State to Respond to Ballot Access Cert Petition to June 30

Posted on by May 10, 2023
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On May 9, the U.S. Supreme Court gave permission to the attorneys for New York state to file their response brief by June 30, in Libertarian Party of New York v State Board of Elections, 22-893. This is the second time the Court has approved the state’s request for more time to respond.

This schedule means that the Court can’t possibly decide whether to hear the case until late September 2023. The issues are the ballot access changes made by the New York legislature in 2020: (1) tripling the number of signatures for a statewide independent candidate or the nominee of an unqualified party, without expanding the six-week petitioning period; (2) raising the vote test for the definition of a qualified party from a group that got 50,000 votes for Governor, to a group that got 2% of the vote for the office at the top of the ticket every two years. That works out to 172,338 votes in the November 2020 election, so the change increased the vote test by three and one-half times. Furthermore, it meant New York became one of only five states that requires a party to run a presidential nominee if it wants to gain or retain qualified status.