Article on the result of the Alabama Primary Date Change from the National group Ballot Access news.

Alabama

On.June 1, HB 425 became law. It

moves the petition deadline for

newly qualifying parties, and nonpresidential

independent candidates,

from June to the second Tuesday in

March, in presidential election years!

The purpose of the bill was not to

move the deadline; the purpose of

the bill was to move the primary (for

all office) in presidential years from

June to March. The bill eliminated

the February presidential primary.

But because the petition deadline is

tied to the date of the primary, by

moving the primary three months

earlier, the legislature caused the

petition deadline to become three

months earlier. .It is not known if

the legislature noticed the effect on

minor party and independent candidate

petition deadlines.

In Alabama, as in most states,

newly-qualifying parties nominate by

convention, not by primary, Alabama

has a "sore loser" law preventing

anyone who ran in the primary

from becoming an independent candidate

(for office other than President).

Therefore, there is no state

interest in a petition deadline as

early as March.

In 1990, a U.S. District Court ruled

that the old petition deadline, 60

days before the primary, was unconstitutional.

In 1991, the 11thcircuit unanimously

affirmed that decision, New Alliance

Party of Alabama v Hand, 933 F.2d

1568. Thus, that decision struck

down an April petition deadline. At

the time, the number of signatures

was 1% of the last gubernatorial

vote, and there had been many minor

party and independent candidates on

the ballot during the preceding ten

years. The court opinion noted that

the April deadline has not blocked

all minor party and independent

candidates from the ballot, but still

strock it down because it couldn't

see any good reason for the deadline

to be as early as April.

It is very likely that a new lawsuit

will be filed against the March petition

deadline, perhaps by the Constitution,

Green and Libertarian Parties.

That case will be stronger than

the 1990 case, because in the last

eight years, there have been no minor

party or independent candidates

on the statewide ballot (except that

independent presidential candidates

have qualified, because they only

need 5,000 signatures and that petition

is not due until early September).

In 2010, Alabama was one of

only five states with no minor party

or independent candidates on the

ballot for statewide office.

Another reason the new lawsuit will

be stronger than the 2012 lawsuit is

that the 2012 lawsuit involves presidential

elections. Precedents against

early petition deadlines involving

presidential elections are even

stronger than precedents involving

elections for other office, especially

in the 11th Circuit.

And, of course, a third reason the

new lawsuit will be stronger than the

1990 case is that the new deadline,

in March, is earlier than the April

deadline that had been struck down.