Local10 News: Why would candidates for Florida Senate seats do no campaigning, no fundraising, have no issue platforms, nor make any effort to get votes?Local 10 News has found evidence to suggest three such candidates in three Florida Senate district … Continue reading
Category Archives: ballot access
Syracuse.com: Steve Williams agreed to be only a temporary placeholder on the Working Families Party line until Democrats chose a candidate – ultimately Balter – in the June 23 primary election.But now he’s stuck on the ballot, even though he’s … Continue reading
NYT: With Mr. Trump trailing Joseph R. Biden Jr. in most national and swing-state polls, Republicans are again trying to help third parties that may appeal to Democratic voters and siphon off votes from Mr. Biden. This is taking place … Continue reading
The case is Davis v. Stapleton. Justice Kagan did not ask for a response on this one. This is the second Green Party case from Montana denied by Justice Kagan. … Continue reading
You can find the opinions and dissent here. Conservative Justice Bruce Hagedorn joined the court’s liberals to form a majority. One of the dissents refers to this case as “perhaps one of the mostimportant cases in a judicial lifetime.” Really? … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The legal team trying to get the Green Party’s presidential ticket on the state’s ballot has close ties to Republicans and also represents Wisconsin’s counties —a group that doesn’t want the Green Party to prevail because it … Continue reading
WaPo: Hawkins suggested in an interview that Trump supporters had helped the Green Party ticket with its legal claim before the state Supreme Court. The party’s petition was filed by attorneys from the Milwaukee-based von Briesen & Roper law firm, … Continue reading
Arizona’s Law reports. … Continue reading
Read the complaint. … Continue reading
State of Politics: A federal judge on Tuesday upheld stricter ballot standards for political parties, dealing a blow to the Working Families Party and the SAM Party’s efforts to challenge the measure. The new law, which had been paired with the … Continue reading
In case anyone still had doubts about what this was all about. Kanye West's address in his court filing to get on the ballot in Wisconsin is the law office of Jill Holtzman Vogel, a Republican state senator from Virginia … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: The campaign for rapper Kanye West filed a lawsuit Friday against the state Elections Commission in a bid to get on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin this November. The 12-page suit was filed in Brown County Circuit … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
BAN reports. [Application to Justice Kagan.] … Continue reading
In essence the court held that party officials had enough time to try to gather signatures during the pandemic, and so the burden was not severe enough to justify easing the requirements. Note: The original post had an incorrect name … Continue reading
From the unsigned order: Once again in its appellate briefs the Board asks this court to reverse the district court’s decisions and permit the Board to determine the best options for balancing the, plaintiffs’ interests with the statutory ballot access … Continue reading
KPAX: The saga of the Green Party’s ballot status in Montana’s 2020 election took yet another turn Tuesday, as two of its candidates and two Green Party voters filed suit in federal court to remain on the ballot.The lawsuit filed … Continue reading
Forbes: Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to … Continue reading
CNN: Republican operatives, some with ties to President Donald Trump, are actively helping Kanye West get on presidential general election ballots in states ranging from Vermont to Arkansas to Wisconsin.The effort is raising questions about whether Republicans are pushing for the … Continue reading
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: The rapper’s campaign turned in a number of signatures on Tuesday in a bid to get on the November presidential ballot in Wisconsin. He is making similar attempts in Ohio, Arkansas and West Virginia.Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Elections Commission, said it could be several … Continue reading
The issue is in the hands of a judge, with Republicans wanting the Green Party on the ballot (to siphon votes from Democrats) and Democrats seeking to kick the Green Party off. … Continue reading
Ben Jacobs: But this time may — at least for a moment — be different. According to multiple campaign professionals who spoke with Intelligencer, West took early steps last week toward getting his name on the ballot in Florida and … Continue reading
Following up on this post, you can read this order. … Continue reading
AP reports. … Continue reading
Details at AZ Law. … Continue reading
You can find the court’s order at this link. The court along the way was pretty dismissive of the rights of third parties. The Eleventh Circuit rejected a similar challenge to Florida law on standing grounds. … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
Opinion here (via BAN). … Continue reading
The Detroit News reports. … Continue reading
Draft here (paper is forthcoming in the University of Chicago Law Review Online). Abstract: Putting aside the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Republican National Committee v. Democratic National Committee, the case over extending the date for receipt of absentee ballots … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
You can find the per curiam opinion of the three-judge panel here. This opinion is troubling, and fits into a larger pattern of the court not protecting direct democracy during the pandemic. Indeed, I have this forthcoming piece in the … Continue reading
Seawright v. Board of Elections. … Continue reading
Detroit News: At least two judicial candidates who felt they were destined to be left off Michigan ballots this August for not meeting state requirements for collecting petition signatures got new life Wednesday, thanks to a U.S. District Court order.In … Continue reading
Opinion here. … Continue reading
NYT: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the best-known progressive politicians in the country, and her endorsement is sought by candidates running for president. Her firebrand style of politics has helped her raise millions of dollars and accumulate 6.9 million followers on … Continue reading
Weigel: It’s unclear whether a bid by Amash would have a greater effect on Biden or on Trump. In 2019, a Detroit News poll found Biden leading Trump in Michigan, a state that has grown more uncertain for the president, by 12 … Continue reading
BAN: On April 21, a Colorado state trial court put Michelle Ferrigno Warren on the June 30 Democratic primary ballot for U.S. Senate, even though she needed 10,500 valid signatures and she only had 5,383 valid signatures….Here is the 28-page decision in … Continue reading
Bill Scher for Politico Magazine: For America’s third parties, this is nothing less than an existential crisis. Without ballot access, national pollsters won’t feel obligated to include Green and Libertarian candidates in their surveys; voters will be less aware of … Continue reading
Law 360: Political candidates seeking to get on to the Sept. 1 primary ballot in Massachusetts will only need to collect half the number of signatures usually required and can now use some electronic means to gather names, according to … Continue reading
WaPo: The Libertarian Party is planning to nominate a candidate for president on May 25 at its convention in Austin, but no well-known figures have entered the race. Former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who joined the party last year, … Continue reading
Virginia Mercury reports. … Continue reading
One issue that most people (including me) have not had a chance to delve into during this virus crisis is how it affects petitioning—both the ability of candidates and parties to get on the ballot as well as the qualification … Continue reading
Buffalo News: A State Supreme Court justice has voided new rules adopted by a special commission paving the way for public financing of elections in New York State while making it harder for minor parties to qualify for the ballot.Justice Ralph … Continue reading
Courthouse News: A change to the deadline for independent political candidates to register for elections signed is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.Kentucky House Bill 114, signed into law by former Governor Matt Bevin in March 2019, changed the deadline for state … Continue reading
The Seattle Times reviews who’s on and who’s off the Washington State primary ballot. And while the story focuses on the candidates on the ballot who may not still be actively contending by the time March 10 rolls around, the … Continue reading
Ballot access is not for the faint of heart. … Continue reading
Marc Elias in WaPo about his lawsuits on the ballot-order statutes giving unilateral pole position to candidates of one party. … Continue reading
Detroit News: A federal district judge on Sunday overturned state law governing independent candidates’ access to the ballot and lowered the signature threshold for qualification in 2020. Michigan Eastern District Judge Victoria Roberts ruled that the state’s ballot access requirements were “severely … Continue reading
Tucson.com: The Arizona Libertarian Party is making a last-ditch effort to quash a state statute that it says was designed to keep its candidates off the ballot.In filings with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Oliver Hall from the Center for … Continue reading