[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Nicholas Sarwark]

Dear Fellow LNC Members,

Pursuant to Policy Manual provision Section 2.04(2), I am writing to
advise you of a proposed lawsuit to be filed in Maine.

As you may be aware, the Libertarian Party of Maine undertook a voter
registration drive to obtain party status by obtaining over 5,000
Libertarian voter registrations by December 1, 2015.  The Libertarian
Party of Maine collected and turned in over 6,000 voter registrations.
However, many of those registrations were not processed by the local
officials who had them prior to the Secretary of State evaluating
whether the party had 5,000 registrations. Per the Secretary of
State's office, the Libertarian Party of Maine only had 4,489
registrations by the deadline.  More details here:
http://ballot-access.org/2015/12/09/maine-secretary-of-state-denies-libertarian-partys-ballot-access/

On hearing this news, I asked Oliver Hall to evaluate the cost of
filing suit to require the Secretary of State to count the
registrations that were turned in prior to the deadline but
unprocessed and/or challenge the early deadline (Dec. 1 in the year
before the election) as unconstitutionally early.  He has consulted
with a colleague of his in Maine  who he has worked with before and
would be willing to be co-counsel on the suit in Maine.  The retainer
for litigating the entire District Court case would be $4,000, and
would include: drafting and filing the complaint; drafting and filing
the motion for temporary restraining order/preliminary injunction;
preparing supporting affidavits; arguing the motion; and converting
the (presumably successful) motion for preliminary relief into one for
summary judgment (i.e., permanent relief) and filing that motion.

Per Mr. Hall, "The complaint would probably assert both facial and
as-applied challenges to the statute (and the Secretary’s failure to
process registrations pursuant thereto) under the First and Fourteenth
Amendments and Section 1983. It would request declaratory and
injunctive relief. It would also request attorney's fees under Section
1988. Assuming we win, and attorney's fees are awarded, the amount of
the fees awarded would be paid to the LNC, as a refund of the retainer
fee...."

The attorney in Maine is prepared to work on this case over the
weekend to get the case filed ASAP.  It is my intention to seek
approval from the Executive Committee today to go forward with this
litigation.

I apologize for not giving more notice, but I am writing you as soon
as I received an estimate from Mr. Hall.  Please let me know if you
have questions or concerns.

Yours truly,
Nick