Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Utah Court Hears Republican Lawsuit on How Parties Nominate


Thanks to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.

On April 4, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in the Republican Party’s (GOP) lawsuit over how it should nominate candidates.

The State law seems to say that candidates seeking the nomination of a qualified party who don’t have much support at a Party Caucus can still get on a Primary ballot. The method for such candidates is a Petition.

The GOP doesn’t want anyone to be able to get on its Primary ballot by Petition.

Under the current law, organizations that register with the state as a "qualified political party", which the Utah GOP did, must allow candidates to gather Petition signatures, go through the party's Convention or both to secure a place on the Primary election ballot.

But the Utah GOP maintains the decision rests with the party, not the candidate, and it has chosen Utah's long-standing Caucus and Convention system. The State contends the candidate has the option to seek the nomination at the Convention or by collecting a requisite number of signatures or following both paths.

The Court mostly probed whether a Qualified Political Party that fails to allow signature gathering would lose that status and be designated as a "registered political party." Only signature collecting to get on the Primary ballot is allowed in registered political parties. Many of the justices' questions focused on whether the Utah GOP would kick out members who gather signatures to get on the ballot, which the party has threatened to do. Candidates must certify with the party that they would follow its rules, which don't a include a provision for signature gathering.

Twenty-six Republican candidates for Federal and State offices have already gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, according to the elections office. Dozens more declared an intent to do so.

Utah Assistant Attorney General David Wolf told the court that if a party revokes membership based on signature gathering, it would no longer be permitting members to choose their path to ballot. The justices noted that the GOP has said it intends to remove members, but until the party attempts to do so, the court might not have an issue to rule on.

Courts don't typically hand down advisory opinions, but Wolf said it would be beneficial in this case. Having an answer to what it means to substantially comply with the law and what happens if the GOP doesn't comply would be helpful for the Lieutenant Governor's office moving forward, he said.

U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer is deciding whether the signature gathering requirements are constitutional. He found earlier this year that thresholds for Utah Senate and House districts might be too high.

Attorneys for the State say it doesn't matter how high they are because signature gathering provides an alternate route to the ballot.

The Utah Democratic Party intervened in the case to ensure the Lieutenant Governor's office applies the law uniformly and fairly, said Attorney Charles Stormont.

Justices Tom Lee and John Pearce recused themselves from the case. Lee's brother is Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who is running for re-election. Pearce worked as Gov. Gary Herbert's in-house counsel. Two appellate court judges replaced them.

The justices noted that the GOP has said it intends to remove members, but until the party attempts to do so, the court might not have an issue to rule on.

Courts don't typically hand down advisory opinions, but Wolf said it would be beneficial in this case.

The issue is in Federal Court. But the Federal Court asked the State Supreme Court to interpret Utah law.

Specifically, the Federal Court wants the State Supreme Court to say whether the Petition procedure is mandatory for all parties, or whether parties that don’t like it can shut out petitioning candidates.











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