On August 12, the Iowa Libertarian Party chose new nominees for Lieutenant Governor and U.S. House, 3rd district, to replace the earlier nominees who had been disqualified. See this story.
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On August 13, a U.S. Magistrate recommended to the U.S. District Court Judge that the judge put Aaron Day on the ballot. Day is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. He was being barred by the Secretary of State because when he filed his declaration of candidacy, his voter registration address wasn’t up-to-date. The Magistrate agreed with Day that states cannot keep candidates for congress off the ballot for issues related to their voter registration status. Here is the 22-page recommendation.
On August 12, a Nebraska state trial court heard oral arguments in two cases. Each case challenges the recognition of certain new parties. One is a challenge to the Working People Party, and the other is a challenge to the America First Party. See this story.
on August 12, independent U.S. House candidate Byron Sigcho-Lopez filed this brief in his lawsuit against Illinois procedures for independent candidates for U.S. House.
Also see this brief.
On August 11, the Eighth Circuit struck down South Dakota’s February petition deadline for initiatives. Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. The vote is 2-1. The majority opinion is by Judge Raymond Gruender, a Bush Jr. appointee; and is also signed by Judge Jane Kelly, an Obama appointee. The dissent is by Judge James B. Loken, a Bush Sr. appointee.
The decision upholds the decision of the U.S. District Court, and is based on a 2023 Eighth Circuit decision that struck down the deadline of November in the year before the election, SD Voice v Noem. Judge Gruender participated in that decision also. The majority believes that it is a curtailment of the First Amendment to fence out large areas of the calendar in which it is impossible to circulate initiative petitions. This is actually clearer if one reads the 2023 decision, than today’s opinion.
The dissent in today’s opinion says the deadline is needed by the state to give it more time to determine if the initiative has enough valid signatures and that there was no fraud in the petitioning process. Here is the decision.
The Eighth Circuit’s 2023 opinion, striking down the November deadline, is here, and contains a further description of why the First Amendment is violated when states won’t permit petitioning in certain time periods.
UPDATE: see this news story.