[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Sam Goldstein]

Is there any funding available in the 2015 budget for more litigation?

Sam Goldstein

On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 11:57 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:

> 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
>
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>
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