[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Scott L.]

Thank you Mr. Chair.

 

I assume we did not start with zero registrations.  So, I wonder what our
validity rate was for the new voter reg forms that we turned in, and what a
"typical" validity rate is when we turn in registration forms.

 

 

I know that if we turned in 5000 voter registration forms here in California
and all of those new voters were registering Democrat,

the validity rate would be 99.9%.


   Scott Lieberman

 

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of
Nicholas Sarwark
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 10:03 AM
To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

 

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

 

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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:

> 

> 

> 

> 

>
http://ballot-access.org/2015/12/09/maine-secretary-of-state-denies-libertar
ian-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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> 

> 

> 

> 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-libertar
ian-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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