On February 10, a Republican candidate for Governor of Georgia, Rick Jackson, filed a lawsuit against the campaign finance law that lets individuals give unlimited campaign donations to some candidates for Governor, and yet those same individuals cannot give more than $4,800 to other candidates for Governor. Jackson v Jones, n.d., 1:26cv-782. A hearing will be held on February 20. Here is the Complaint. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash, a Clinton appointee.
On February 18, the Connecticut Law Tribune published an editorial, “Connecticut Should Ease Restrictions to Ballot Access”. It says that it is too difficult for candidates to get on primary ballots, and suggests that the restrictions might violate the State Constitution. The editorial is behind a pay wall.
For candidates who cannot get the support of 15% of the delegates at a party meeting, a petition of 2% of the number of the party’s registrants is needed for statewide and U.S. House candidates. The signatures must be gathered in only six weeks. For candidates for the legislature and local office, 5% is needed, in only 14 days.
The Idaho House Affairs Committee has introduced HB 638, which would restore presidential primaries. Any qualified party would be entitled to a presidential primary, which would be held the first Tuesday in March. However, the filing fee for candidates would be $50,000. The bill contains no provision for a petition in lieu of filing fee. That omission would probably be unconstitutional. In 1972 a 3-judge federal court in Vermont ruled that there must be some alternative to filing fees for presidential candidates who can’t afford the fee.
The League of Women Voters and the Council on American-Islamic Relations are the Plaintiffs and are represented by the ACLU and the Campaign Legal Center in suing the Buckeye State over provisions in the recently passed controversial Senate Bill 293. League of Women Voters v LaRose, s.d., 2:26cv-177. Here is the Complaint, filed February 13.
Here’s the story on this matter from Ohio Capitol Journal.
The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson, a Bush Jr. appointee.
Pennsylvania’s law requiring postal voters to add the date to the outer envelope is still generating judicial activity. On February 11 the Republican National Committee filed a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue. The Third Circuit had struck down the requirement on the basis of the 1964 Civil Rights Law, which says that paperwork errors in the voting process that are not material to determining whether the voter is eligible cannot be used to invalidate a ballot. That cert petition is Republican National Committee v Eakin, 25-962.
Six days later the state government of Pennsylvania filed its own cert petition, even though the state and the Republican National Committee are on the same side. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v Eakin, 25-967.
