Nye County, Nevada, Will Count Ballots by Hand, but Nevada Supreme Court Tells County Not to Count Ballots Before Election Day

Posted on by October 24, 2022
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On October 21, the Nevada Supreme Court issued an order in ACLU of Nevada v County of Nye, 85507. The court will allow Nye County to count its general election ballots by hand instead of with vote-counting machines. But the Court forbad the county from counting the votes as they come in, during the early voting period. State law forbids releasing the returns before election day. Without the Court order, the county’s original plan would have live-streamed the county process starting this week, so that the early returns would be known before election day. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.

If the county were using vote-counting equipment, the votes could be counted early, because counting them early with a machine would not be releasing the results early.

Independent Party of Connecticut Survives Challenge to All Its Nominations

Posted on by October 23, 2022
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On October 3, a Connecticut state trial court declined to remove the Independent Party’s nominees from the November 8 ballot. The party had not filed its bylaws with the Secretary of States for years. The Republican nominee for Treasurer sued the Secretary of State to remove the party, but the judge felt he had filed the case too late. See this story.

Georgia Libertarian Party Files Brief in Eleventh Circuit in Campaign Contribution Case

Posted on by October 23, 2022
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On October 17, the Georgia Libertarian Party and its nominee for Lieutenant Governor filed this opening brief in the Eleventh Circuit in Graham v Georgia Attorney General, 22-13396. The issue is the Georgia law that lets individuals contribute unlimited amounts of money to the gubernatorial nominees of the Republican and Democratic Parties, but limits contributions to other gubernatorial candidates to $7,600. The U.S. District Court had rejected the case on procedural grounds.

Eleventh Circuit Refuses to Rehear Florida People’s Party Ballot Access Case

Posted on by October 23, 2022
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On October 21, the Eleventh Circuit denied rehearing in People’s Party of Florida v Florida Department of State, 22-12451. The issue was the Florida law that makes it impossible for a party to nominate someone who has not been a registered member for a full year before the candidate filing deadline. The effect of the law is devastating for new parties, because no one can register as a member of an unqualified party in Florida. So if a new party qualifies in an election year, it can’t run any candidates.

The law would even apply to presidential elections. Florida is one of the few states in which presidential elector candidates must be registered into the party that nominates them. So if a new party were formed in a presidential election year in Florida, it couldn’t have any valid candidates for presidential elector, and therefore couldn’t run a presidential nominee.

The Eleventh Circuit has said the case is moot. But the U.S. Supreme Court settled in 1969 that ballot access cases are not moot just because the election is over.

The Eleventh Circuit original opinion in this case refused to acknowledge that in 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the Freedom of Association Clause in the First Amendment means that states can’t tell parties they can’t nominate a non-member.