On March 13, the New York Green and Libertarian Parties cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. Libertarian Party of New York v New York State Board of Elections. There is no case number yet. The brief concerns the 2020 ballot access changes in New York. The legislature tripled the statewide petition for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, from 15,000 to 45,000 signatures. The legislature did not expand the petitioning period, which lasts six weeks in April and May.

The legislature also changed the definition of a party from a group that polled 50,000 votes for Governor, to one that polled 2% for the office at the top of the ballot, every two years (president/governor).

UPDATE: Here is the Appendix for the cert petition.

On Saturday, the New Mexico House Judiciary Committee passed SB 180. It is a very long omnibus election law bill. Among its provisions, it doubles the number of signatures needed by minor party non-presidential nominees, from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2%.

Even the 1% petition has kept all minor party non-presidential nominees off the ballot for statewide office, ever since 2012, when the Independent American Party managed to get the signatures for its U.S. Senate nominee.

Presidential candidates are exempt from the nominee petition requirement.

It is clear that the Judiciary Committee members did not understand the provision doubling the number of signatures. The bill’s sponsor told the committee that the witnesses against it were mistaken. The witnesses against the provision were limited to one minute, with no opportunity for the committee members to ask questions of the witness. The witnesses included two Green Party activists, and me.

Texas Senator Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) has introduced SB 2531, to double the number of signatures for an independent candidate, from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2%. The Texas statewide independent petition has been 1% ever since 1903 when Texas first created government-printed ballots.

Even the 1% petition is so difficult, it is seldom used. It has not been used statewide since 2006. For legislative independents, only one qualified in 2022. Voters who vote in the primary cannot sign independent candidate petitions, and the time period to collect the signatures is short.

The bill also doubles filing fees. The filing fee for U.S. Senator goes from $5,000 to $10,000. The bill also doubles the number of signatures needed for a petition in lieu of filing fee. Thanks to Linda Curtis for this news.