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No Relief from State-Court Judgment Allowing Ballot-Petition Signers to Withdraw Their Signatures

Robert Timothy Reagan
March 27, 2023

Davis v. Stapleton (Dana L. Christensen, D. Mont. 6:20-cv-62)
A state court vacated certification of a minor political party for a general-election ballot after ballot-petition signers withdrew their signatures when they found out that they were collected by a different political party. Ostensible minor-party candidates and voters were denied relief in federal court from the state court judgment, because allowing signers to withdraw their signatures was not obviously improper.
Subject: Getting on the ballot. Topics: Enjoining certification; getting on the ballot; matters for state courts; party procedures; primary election; intervention; interlocutory appeal; Covid-19.

One of many Case Studies in Emergency Election Litigation.