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
Category Archives: ballot access
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
Daniel Strauss for Politico: Evan McMullin is running as an independent conservative alternative to Donald Trump. Who McMullin is running with, however, is a bit of a mystery. In all nine states where he has officially qualified on the presidential … Continue reading
WaPo: Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, was asked about the current 15 percent polling threshold during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Probably too high,” said Sanders, who is set to return to the campaign trail Monday in … Continue reading
The Monkey Cage. … Continue reading
The Court, without comment or noted dissent, has turned down the Libertarians’ request to have Johnson and Weld listed as Libertarians on the ballot. This not only would have helped Johnson and Weld by giving them a party label; it … Continue reading
Weigel. … Continue reading
BAN: On August 26, the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Grimes, 16-6107. The opinion upholds Kentucky’s failure to have any procedure for a group to transform itself into a qualified party, in advance of … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
Filing (and a filing by intervenor Gregory Felsoci (more on Felsoci here). Justice Kagan can decide this or refer to the full Court. I expect a decision very soon, given the ballot printing deadline of Tuesday. Thanks to Chris Geidner for … Continue reading
It’s the little things (via Political Wire). … Continue reading
Here’s the latest AP report, but it is unclear to me if SOS Husted will be listing them as Libertarians, the subject of the emergency SCOTUS motion. … Continue reading
Wiegel. … Continue reading
Response due to SCOTUS by tomorrow at 3. Here’s my coverage from yesterday. … Continue reading
Michael Dorf for Verdict. … Continue reading
Via Chris Geidner, comes this emergency motion to get the Johnson/Weld ticket on the Ohio ballot listed as Libertarians. (It is uncertain if Johnson/Weld might make it on the ballot as independent candidates without a party label should this petition … Continue reading
NBC First Read: The reaction to the news of the latest Trump campaign shake-up has ranged from shock and disbelief to laughter. “Hiring [Breitbart’s Steve] Bannon to run the campaign in the midst of its crisis is insane,” Republican consultant … Continue reading
Texas has a very early deadline but we are getting super late in terms of printing ballots. … Continue reading
Josh Gerstein: Procedures allowing Michigan voters to easily cast straight-ticket ballots look likely to remain in place for this fall’s election after a federal appeals court refused to restore a law that would have ended the practice. A three-judge panel … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
The latest from Ohio: Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted on Monday gave the green light for Libertarians to swap in presidential nominee Gary Johnson’s name as an independent on the November ballot. Husted’s ruling ends questions about whether Ohio … Continue reading
Tom Elias. … Continue reading