[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Nicholas Sarwark]

I have trouble imagining how a Judge would justify denying the timely
validity of a voter registration due to a failure of a clerk to timely
perform the ministerial function of processing it, though stranger
things have happened.  I'm not sure we're at 80%, but I'm pretty sure
we're at least at 70%.

-Nick

On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 10:56 AM, Scott L. <scott73 at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> Mr. Chair:
>
>
>
> I did not look at the law, but I did look at the comments here:
>
>
>
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> http://ballot-access.org/2015/12/09/maine-secretary-of-state-denies-libertarian-partys-ballot-access/
>
>
>
>
>
> My opinion is that the chance of this lawsuit winning on both the early
> deadline issue AND the “you have to beat the deadline by a random number of
> days that changes depending on which Statist occupies the Secretary of
> State’s Office” is over 80%.
>
>
> Do you concur with my assessment, or am I underestimating the prevalence of
> rational judges?
>
>
>
>   Scott Lieberman
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of
> Joshua Katz
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 9:36 AM
> To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine
>
>
>
> There's a rather outrageous claim being made her:  that a deadline is not
> when you need to turn something in, but rather when the government has to
> finish processing it.  By that logic, they can just refuse to process
> petitions at all.  If Maine gets away with it, why wouldn't other states
> follow suit - particularly when it counts the most?  This means, for
> instance, that a very viable candidate, polling above 50% in every poll,
> could be kept off the ballot simply by "not having time" to process their
> paperwork.  This is an outrage, and an insult not just to democracy, but to
> their very own laws.
>
>
>
> It is, in my opinion, in this party's interest, nationwide, to fight this
> absurdity.  I strongly support entering litigation on this and nipping this
> particular line of nonsense in the bud.
>
>
>
>
>
> Joshua A. Katz
>
> Westbrook CT Planning Commission (L in R seat)
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>
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>
>
> GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
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> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 12:26 PM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Mr. Chair.
>
> Unless somebody can steer me in a different direction, it seems to me this
> is precisely the sort of thing we allocate a legal budget for in the first
> place.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Kevin Ludlow
>
> Region 7
>
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 11:24 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>
> To answer Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Ludlow's question, this expense would
> be under the litigation line item that has $13,500 in the remaining
> budget for the year.
>
> -Nick
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 10:10 AM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Mr. Chair,
>>
>> Thank you for sending this out.  I would very likely support this kind of
>> effort.
>>
>> I realize there would be an effort to have the legal fees refunded upon a
>> favorable outcome, but ignoring that possibility, would the $4,000 come
>> from
>> our legal budgeting, would it borrow from a different category, or would
>> it
>> need to be raised separately altogether?
>>
>> Again, I would likely support the effort either way, but just want to
>> clarify how we'd be allocating it.
>>
>> Thanks much.
>>
>> Kevin Ludlow
>> Region 7
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 10:57 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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