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Including on the Ballot Nominees of a Fractured Minor Party

Robert Timothy Reagan, Margaret S. Williams, Marie Leary, Catherine R. Borden, Jessica L. Snowden, Patricia D. Breen, Jason A. Cantone
September 14, 2023

Watson v. Miller (Paul V. Gadola, E.D. Mich. 4:00-cv-40336)
Supporters of a minor party’s presidential nominee filed a federal complaint to require the state’s secretary of state to include the nominee on the general-election ballot after being denied such relief by the state’s supreme court. Two rival factions of the party had put forward separate nominees. The federal district judge ruled that the plaintiffs had not established a clear right to the requested relief, and an appeal was dismissed by stipulation.
Subject: Getting on the ballot. Topics: Getting on the ballot; party procedures; interlocutory appeal; matters for state courts.

One of many Case Studies in Emergency Election Litigation.