On June 1, Iowa Governor Kim Reynods signed HF 716, which tells political parties that they can’t allow postal ballots at presidential caucuses. The bill says all voters must be physically present. The Iowa Democratic Party caucus rules for 2024 do allow postal ballots, so a lawsuit is a possibility.
On May 31, the California Assembly passed AB 421 by 60-18. It outlaws paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis, but it makes an exception for initiatives in which the backers are able to collect 5% of the needed signatures with volunteer petitioners.
It also changes the ballot description for referenda, so that the ballot is less confusing. Referenda questions on ballots of all jurisdictions are often confusing, because “yes” and “no” are inherently ambiguous. A voter may not know whether “yes” means “Yes, repeal the law”, or “Yes, keep the law.”
On June 1, the U.S. Supreme Court released three opinions, but none of them are election law decisions. The next day for release of opinions is Thursday, June 8, followed by June 15 and June 22.
Election law decisions that are still pending are on redistricting, including a North Carolina case on whether the Republican-majority legislature aruged that the State Supreme Court had no right to invalidate the state’s districts on State Constitutional grounds. That case is Moore v Harper, 21-1271. The other pending election law decision is from Alabama, Allen v Milligan, 21-1086.
On May 26, the Nevada Republican Party filed a lawsuit in state court, asking that the Secretary of state be prevented from holding a 2024 presidential primary for the Republican Party. Nevada Republican Party v State of Nevada, 1st jud. dist., Carson City, 23-0000051-1B. The Nevada Republican Party would rather use a caucus. The presidential primary for qualified major parties was passed by the Nevada legislature in 2021.
In Arizona in 1996, a state court ruled that if the Democratic Party and the Libertarian Party didn’t want the state to hold presidential primaries for them, they had a Freedom of Association right to tell the state not to hold such presidential primaries. That case was Arizona State Democratic Committee v Hull, Maricopa County Superior Court cv96-909. That is the only precedent from any state on this issue.
Here is the Nevada Republican Complaint. Thanks to Derek Muller for the link.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Mazo v Way, 22-1033, at its June 15 conference. This is the case over New Jersey ballot labels for primary candidates. The state restricts the content.
