The Associated Press has this story about Ashley Judd, who may seek a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky in 2014. She currently is a registered voter in Tennessee. The story gives the impression that Judd must be a registered voter in Kentucky by the end of 2013, or she can’t get her name on the May 2014 primary ballot. The reporter seems unaware that the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 10th circuits have all ruled that states cannot use residency to keep any congressional candidate off a primary ballot, or a general election ballot
In Schaefer v Townsend, 215 F.3d 1031 (9th circuit, 2000) and Campbell v Davidson, 233 F.3d 1229 (10th circuit, 2000), California and Colorado were told they could not require candidates for Congress to be registered voters. Both states asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse those decisions, but in both cases the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals. Michael Schaefer, in the California case, won the right to run for Congress from California even though he was registered to vote in Nevada (he had homes in both states). In the Colorado case, Douglas Campbell was a resident of Colorado but he refused to register to vote on grounds of principle, and he also won his case and was permitted to be on the ballot for Congress.
In 2006, the Fifth Circuit ruled in Texas Democratic Party v Benkiser, 459 F.3d 582, that Republican Congressman Tom DeLay was still eligible to run for re-election, even though he had moved to Virginia. DeLay had won the Republican primary in March 2006 to run for re-election to the U.S. House, but then he withdrew, which he was permitted to do. However, the Republican Party could only replace him if the reason he withdrew was that he was ineligible. But the 5th circuit said that the fact that he had moved from Texas to Virginia did not make him ineligible to run. The U.S. Constitution has no residency requirement for candidates for Congress, except that they must be residents of the state they seek to represent “on election day”. Where they live prior to election day is immaterial.
In 2008, the 2nd circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court in New York that Jon Powers, a congressional candidate, who wanted to withdraw from the election late in the year, could not withdraw. He argued that because he had moved from New York to the District of Columbia, he was no longer eligible to run for Congress from New York, but the federal courts granted an injunction keeping him on the ballot against his will. That case was New York State Republican Committee v New York State Board of Elections, 08-5327 in the 2nd circuit, and is not reported. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Does this also apply to state or local offices?
No.
However, she can’t vote for herself unless she resides in the state for one year prior to the election, according to section 145 of the state Constitution (http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/legresou/constitu/145.htm).
That means she has to move here by May 20, 2013. If she announces during Derby Week, she would have less than three weeks to find and close on a house, and move in.
Of course, part 3 of section 145 might preclude her from being able to vote anyway. (just kidding on that one)
Also, considering that the Secretary of State is also thinking about running, she might try to make it as difficult on Judd as she can.
#1 In Texas, if a party nominee wants to withdraw from a legislative race, he moves to another district. Since a candidate must be a resident of his district for a year before he is elected, this makes him ineligible.
In Texas, a party nominee may only be replaced if he is ineligible or dies. After the election, or perhaps even before, the former nominee can move back home.
Tom DeLay thought the same thing would work for federal offices, and moved to Virginia and got drivers and fishing licenses. The Republican Party declared him ineligible and replaced him as a nominee. Tina Benkiser was the Republican State Chair at the time, and it would have been in her official capacity that she would have informed the SOS that the Republican nominee had changed (In Texas, primaries are conducted by the political parties. After they have canvassed the results, they inform the SOS who will represent their party on the ballot). In the trial, Tom DeLay testified that even he was unsure where he would be living on election day.
In the New York case, Jon Power was the darling of the Democratic left, and had been brought in to challenge Jack Davis. Jack Davis was a wealthy industrialist who had been kicked out of a fundraiser with Dick Cheney and became a Democrat, and ran as the Democratic and Working Families candidate in 2002 and 2004. Davis successfully challenged the self-financed candidate provisions of McCain-Feingold, so the Daily Kosites wanted to prove that they could defeat the rich guy. Power got the nomination of the Working Families party, but both he and Davis were defeated in Democratic primary by Alice Kryzan who actually had some roots in the community and grass roots support. Jon Powers didn’t bother to concede or congratulate the winner, and disappeared. A few weeks later he turned up in Washington, D.C. with a new job (when he was campaigning he was a substitute teacher which gave him the flexibility to not work, but have a job). The lawsuit was an effort to get him off the Working Families line. Kryzan lost the general election to Republican Chris Lee, though Powers did not pull enough votes to make a decisive difference, but certainly enough to make the race not close.
After Lee won, Davis became a Republican again. Chris Lee resigned in 2011, and Democrat Kathy Hochul won a special election in which Davis ran as the Tea Party candidate siphoning enough votes to ensure Hochul’s victory.
Hochul was defeated in 2012 by Chris Collins. Democrat Hochul defeated Republican Collins by 3000 votes; but Conservative candidate Collins defeated Working Families candidate Hochul by 8,000 votes. Under New York’s con-fusion election system Collins was elected based on his votes, even though the Democrats got more voters than the Republicans.
Ashley Judd has tweeted that she is not running. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/03/27/ashley-judd-is-not-running-for-senate/