A book will soon be published called “The Oxford Handbook of American Election Law.” It will have a chapter by Law Professor Derek Muller on ballot access laws.
This book should not be confused with an older book, “The Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior”, which had no content relating to ballot access laws.
The Constitution Party of Alaska has had its presidential petition as a Limited Political Party approved by the Alaska Division of Elections. The required number of valid signatures of Alaska registered voters was 3,614, so that party’s 2024 presidential ticket will appear on the ballot in Alaska.
A North Carolina State Court of Appeals will soon decide how many signatures an independent candidate needs to get on the ballot for Orange County Commissioner. The law says an independent needs 4% of the number of registered voters in the district. In Orange County, there are two rounds for County Commissioner elections. In the first round, the voters of district two are the only voters. But in the run-off, the entire county votes.
See this story. The independent candidate, Connor Fraley, argues that the 4% should be calculated on the number of registered voters in district two, not in the entire county. He lost in the lower court but is appealing.
Last year the city council of Washington, D.C., passed an ordinance letting adult permanent residents who are non-citizens vote for local office. In March 2023 some D.C. voters challenged the constitutionality of that law. On May 4 the case was transferred to federal court. Hall v D.C. Board of Elections, 1:23cv-1261. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee.
The plaintiffs argue that allowing non-citizens to vote dilutes the voting power of citizens.
On May 18, the Nevada Senate passed AJR 6, which is a proposed constitutional amendment that would provide for Nevada to join the National Popular Vote Plan. It had already passed the Senate, so it is now through the legislature. No gubernatorial action is needed because it is not a bill, but a proposed constitutional amendment.
If the next session of the legislature also passes it, then it would be on the ballot in November 2026.
So far the only other state in which voters have voted on the National Popular Vote Plan is Colorado, where the legislature passed the plan and then a group opposed to the idea collected the signatures to ask the voters to repeal it. But a majority of the Colorado voters voted to keep it.
