Kansas House Passes Bill Requiring Declared Write-in Candidates to Pay a Filing Fee

Posted on by February 26, 2023
Reply

On February 23, the Kansas House passed HB 2086. Among other things, it requires declared write-in candidates to pay the same filing fee that candidates on the ballot must pay.

Courts in California, Maryland, and West Virginia have ruled that it is unconstitutional to require write-in candidates to pay filing fees. The only legitimate purpose of filing fees is to prevent ballots from being too crowded, according to the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Lubin v Panish. Write-in candidates’ names aren’t printed on ballots, so there is no legitimate rationale for filing fees for write-in candidates.

Eighth Circuit Strikes Down South Dakota’s Petition Deadline for Initiative Petitions

Posted on by March 8, 2023
Reply

On February 17, the Eighth Circuit issued an opinion in SD Voice and Cory Heidelberger v Noem, 21-3195. It strikes down the South Dakota petition deadline for initiatives, which is one year before the election. The decision is by Judge L. Steven Grasz (a Trump appointee), and is also signed by Judge James B. Loken (a Bush Sr. appointee) and Judge Raymond Gruender (a Bush Jr. appointee). Here is the 16-page opinion.

The opinion is probably the most significant lawsuit win for the initiative process since the First Circuit decision last year that struck down Maine’s residency requirement for initiative circulators. There had never before been any federal court decision that held the petition deadline for an initiative can be too early.

The plaintiff is a Democrat who is active in placing initiatives on the ballot. He will probably next work on an initiative to repeal the sales tax on groceries.

The decision notes that South Dakota uses random sampling to check the validity of initiatives, and in the past has been able to validate an initiative petition in only two days, using random sampling. Of course, even in states that use random sampling, there are times when the random result is so close that the state must then check all the signatures. Thanks to Robbin Stewart for this news.

Vermont Bill to Move Independent Petition Deadline from August to May

Posted on by February 25, 2023
6

Fifteen Vermont Representatives, all Democrats, have introduced HB 97, which moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from August to May. The bill passed the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee on February 22.

There over thirty court precedents that the petition deadline for non-presidential independents cannot be earlier than the date of the primary. The Vermont primary is in August, so the bill would be unconstitutional if it passes.

The bill also outlaws “sore losers”, and makes it more difficult for an individual to be nominated by write-in votes at the primary. Current law says a write-in winner must receive a number of write-in votes equal to half the number of signatures that would have been needed to gain a place on the primary ballot. The bill doubles the number of write-ins needed.

When the bill was originally introduced, it only raised the write-in requirement, but it was amended in committee to make other restrictive changes. Thanks to the Progressive Party for this news. The Progressive Party is fighting the bill.

J. J. McCullough Creates an 18-minute You Tube on the History of U.S. Ballots that is Worth Watching

Posted on by February 24, 2023
10

J. J. McCullough of Vancouver, British Columbia, has created this entertaining 18-minute you tube about the history of U.S. ballots. It has some fresh ideas, especially at the end.

There is one very small factual error. It says every state had started using government-printed ballots by the 1910’s, but actually Georgia didn’t start until 1922, and South Carolina didn’t start until 1950. Thanks to Jack Ross for the link.