Perennial presidential candidate Ralph Nader won a Supreme Court ruling invalidating a Arizona state law requiring residency to circulate petitions to place the names of independent candidates on the ballot. -DB
First Amendment Center
March 9, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court is letting stand a decision that invalidated state laws regulating the ways independent presidential candidates can get on state ballots.
The high court today refused to hear an appeal from the state of Arizona, which had a residency requirement for petition circulators and a June deadline for submitting signatures for independent candidates in the November presidential elections.
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sued, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Arizona’s law.
Thirteen other states wanted the high court to reverse that decision: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. They say those rules are critical safeguards ensuring the integrity of their elections.
But Nader says banning out-of-state signature collectors interferes with free-speech rights. He also says it’s unfair that independent candidates have a June deadline, when major party candidates aren’t decided until convention season begins in the fall.
Nader wanted to be on Arizona’s ballot in November 2004, but a challenge to the authenticity of his petition signatures caused him to withdraw his candidacy in that state. Nader and one of his Arizona supporters then sued, saying Arizona’s election laws severely burdened the rights of expressive association and political speech of political candidates, potential petition circulators and voters.
To collect signatures for political candidates, circulators must be registered to vote in Arizona. And to get on the Arizona ballot in 2004 required independent candidates to get 14,694 signatures on a petition no later than 90 days before the primary election.
Arizona said the residency requirement was tailored to ensure they could find petition collectors in case any signatures were challenged, and the early deadline was needed for early voting and for the state to have enough time to print ballots for the election.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have adopted residency requirements for petition circulators, while 25 states have independent candidate petition-filing deadlines in June or earlier.
The case is Brewer v Nader, 08-648.
Copyright The Associated Press 2009