BAN: On December 3, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Soltysik v Padilla, 16-55758. This is the case in which Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik, a registered Socialist, challenged the California law that forces him to appear on the ballot with … Continue reading
Category Archives: ballot access
NYT: Representative Chris Collins, the New York Republican indicted on insider trading charges last month, reversed course on Monday and planned to announce he would seek another term, according to two Republicans familiar with his plans. Mr. Collins opted to … Continue reading
Opinion: And although the Supreme Court upheld a five-percent signature requirement in Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U.S. 431, 438 (1971), that signature requirement was analyzed using a less stringent framework than that required by Anderson and Burdick. See Anderson, 460 U.S. … Continue reading
New York Law Journal: The New York Court of Appeals has kicked a candidate for member of the New York State Democratic Committee off the September primary ballot for failing to explicitly state she is a woman. Penny Mintz, who … Continue reading
End of the line, unless Blankenship petitions the U.S. Supreme Court. … Continue reading
BAN: On August 22, U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flanagan, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued a 17-page order in Poindexter v Strach, e.d., 5:18cv-366. The order puts three Constitution Party nominees on the ballot, for legislature and county office. The State Board … Continue reading
Jerry Goldfeder & Myrna Perez: Crowley has taken a different tack. Although he remains on the Working Families line, he immediately endorsed Ocasio-Cortez for the congressional seat. This is not unlike what Andrew Cuomo did in 2002. Running for governor … Continue reading
News and Observer: A judge threw out a new state law Monday, ruling that it violated the constitutional rights of at least two politicians whose 2018 campaigns the law had targeted. Chris Anglin, a Republican candidate for a seat on the … Continue reading
News & Observer: The North Carolina Supreme Court candidate who is suing the state government and legislative leaders won a partial victory in court Monday. Chris Anglin is a registered Republican, and he is running against a Democrat and another … Continue reading
Progressive Pulse: The Constitution Party of North Carolina is following through on its threat to sue the state over ballot access restrictions. The Party and three of its members — James Poindexter of Surry County, Jerry Jones of Greene County … Continue reading
Here is the three-page letter (via Political Wire). If Blankenship sues, the legal questions could get very interesting, especially given the recent change in the law. … Continue reading
West Virginia Public Radio reports. … Continue reading
ABC News: In a statement posted on Facebook, Blankenship conceded that he does not expect the filing to be certified due to West Virginia’s “sore loser” law that prohibits candidates that lost in a primary to run in the general election, but that … Continue reading
Politico: West Virginia coal baron and former prisoner Don Blankenship announced on Monday that he plans to launch a long-shot third-party Senate bid after finishing a distant third in this month’s Republican primary. Blankenship said he would run in the … Continue reading
BAN: On May 1, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer issued a 25-page order in Goodall v Williams, 1:18cv-980. The order enjoins the Secretary of State of Colorado from enforcing the state’s ban on out-of-state circulators for candidate petitions. It also puts … Continue reading
Steve Klepper: The Maryland high court is about to hear, on emergency briefing, the appeal in Lamone v. Lewin. The administrator of the State Board of Elections is challenging the April 26 injunction requiring that former state senator Nathaniel Oaks’ name … Continue reading
Daily Beast: The former Green Party candidate in a congressional race has been exposed as a Republican plant with ties to the GOP congressman he supposedly sought to challenge Michael Zak petitioned to run under the Green Party ticket in … Continue reading
AP: A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana’s U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party’s payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents. Timothy Adams filed as … Continue reading
Matt Ford for TNR. … Continue reading
Richard Winger: The opinion says that the March 27 petition deadline is too early, especially given winter weather in South Dakota. It also says the 2.5% (of the last gubernatorial vote) is also too high, given the historical record of … Continue reading
Potentially big news in Texas: Dallas County Republicans have filed a lawsuit to have 128 Democrats kicked off the March 6 primary ballot. The lawsuit, filed in Dallas County late Friday, contends that Dallas County Democratic Party Chairman Carol Donovan didn’t … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
That’s the results as of this moment. There are still (not many) provisional ballots to count and a possible recount. If the state had used instant runoff voting, it could have affected who controlled state legislative house. … Continue reading
Politico: Efforts to pry loose President Donald Trump’s tax returns at the state level have hit a wall, stalling in statehouses across the country including in California, a hotbed of anti-Trump resistance. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation late Sunday … Continue reading
Goldfeder and Perez write for the NYLJ. … Continue reading
Fascinating. Under Montana law, if Clements had applied to be a formal candidate in the mayor’s race, all write-in names would have counted. But because he’s the only registered write-in candidate and no one is on the regular ballot, none … Continue reading
BAN: On September 22, the Seventh Circuit issued a 12-page opinion in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Scholz, 16-1667. The opinion says the U.S. District Court was correct when it invalidated the Illinois “full-slate” ballot access restriction. The law, which has existed … Continue reading
Judge Brown opinion, with a Judge Pillard concurrence. The majority opinion begins: Every four years, we suffer through the celebration of democracy (and national nightmare) that is a presidential election. And, in the end, one person is selected to occupy … Continue reading
BAN with a link to the ruling. … Continue reading
If true this is a big problem. … Continue reading
Read the order and opinion here. … Continue reading
Deseret News: A newly formed Utah political party filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the lieutenant governor’s office seeking to gain access to the ballot for the 3rd District special election to replace Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. The United Utah Party … Continue reading
BAN: On June 6, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge William O. Bertelsman, a Carter appointee, struck down a Kentucky campaign finance contribution limit that discriminated in favor of the Republican and Democratic Parties, and against all other parties. Shickel v … Continue reading
Danielle Lang for the Take Care blog. … Continue reading
I have written this piece for Politico. A snippet: Now, though, a band of state lawmakers is attempting to succeed where so many others have failed. In at least 24 states, legislators have introduced bills that would force Trump (and … Continue reading
I just came across an unpublished 2012 10th Circuit opinion from Judge Gorsuch in Hassan v. Colorado. Here is the full opinion, and I’ve bolded the most important last sentence: NEIL M. GORSUCH, Circuit Judge. Abdul Karim Hassan is a naturalized … Continue reading
AJC: The federal appeals court in Atlanta on Wednesday upheld a ruling issued last year that found a portion of Georgia’s ballot access laws violated the U.S. Constitution. The one-sentence ruling, by a unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. … Continue reading
WaPo reports. The constitutionality of such requirements is uncertain. The Supreme Court in US Term Limits v. Thornton and Cook v. Gralike prevented states from adding qualifications for congressional candidates through ballot access requirements. If those cases applied here, it would be tough to … Continue reading
CNN: Neither Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson nor the Green Party’s Jill Stein managed to make a dent in the Electoral College, but they did post a significant enough showing in several states arguably to help elect Donald Trump. Trump … Continue reading
Richard Winger: The 2016 Green Party nominee in this race, Ray Parrish, was nominated in the 2016 Green Party primary with 66 write-in votes. A Libertarian, Kim Allen, ran in the Libertarian primary in this district this year. Allen received … Continue reading
In my recent USA Today oped, I wrote: “Despite Nader saying there was “not a dime’s worth of difference” between Republican Bush and Democrat Gore, without Nader on the Florida ballot, we might not have had an Iraq War and all of … Continue reading
NYT: The vast majority of millennials were not old enough to vote in 2000, when Ralph Nader ran as the Green Party nominee and, with the strong backing of young voters, helped cost Vice President Al Gore the presidency. “Ralph … Continue reading
BAN: On September 23, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 14-15976, saying that the party’s challenge to the February petition deadline for new parties fails because the Green Party submitted no evidence that the … Continue reading
I’ve just received what I’ve been told is a copy of the overseas ballot sent by Susquehanna County, PA. Gary Johnson is omitted, the Constitution Party candidates are listed as being from the Conservative Party, and it has the wrong VP … Continue reading
Missed this Politico story from last week, and it looks like McMullin would have a good case if the campaign went to court: he decision by Gov. Rick Scott’s administration to block Evan McMullin’s presidential campaign from the general election … Continue reading
The WSJ reports: A would-be contender for retiring U.S. Rep. Steve Israel’s seat won’t get his name on a primary ballot after monthslong legal battle, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court … Continue reading
MPR News reports. … Continue reading
BAN: On September 9, three judges of the Seventh Circuit granted a stay of the U.S. District Court order in Gill v Scholz. This means that Dr. David Gill, independent candidate for U.S. House, 13th district of Illinois, is now … Continue reading
Filing in state supreme court. UPDATE: I should add my opinion, though it will be obvious to regular readers. Of course Minnesota voters should have a real choice between Trump and Clinton on the ballot, and Trump should not be … Continue reading
The case is Anderson v Poythress, an unreported 14-page US District Court decision in 1980 that put John Anderson on the ballot on due process grounds. Richard Winger of Ballot Access News tracked down a copy which I have posted here. … Continue reading