Libertarian Party of Maine v. Diamond
| Decision Date | 04 January 1993 |
| Docket Number | 92-2061,Nos. 92-2026,s. 92-2026 |
| Citation | 992 F.2d 365 |
| Parties | LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF MAINE, et als., Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. G. William DIAMOND, Etc., Defendant, Appellee. (Two Cases). . Heard |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit |
Glenn S. Eddy with whom Berman & Simmons, P.A., Lewiston, ME, was on brief for plaintiffs, appellants.
Cabanne Howard, Deputy Atty. Gen., with whom Michael E. Carpenter, Atty. Gen., Augusta, ME, was on brief for defendant, appellee.
Before TORRUELLA and CYR, Circuit Judges, and BOWNES, Senior Circuit Judge.
The Libertarian Party of Maine ("Party") and seventeen of its candidates for elective office ("appellant candidates") challenge a district court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Maine's ballot-access requirements, 21-A M.R.S.A. § 301 et seq. We affirm.
Under Maine law, a group of voters seeking recognition as a new political party may "qualify" in either of two ways. First, the voter group may petition the Secretary of State to participate as a political party in the primary election; the petition must be signed by voters numbering at least 5% of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. See 21-A M.R.S.A. § 303(1). Second, the group may organize a political party around a prior candidate for the office of Governor or President who (1) was not affiliated with a registered party; (2) consents in writing; and (3) received more than 5% of the total Maine vote cast for the office of Governor or President, as the case may be, in the immediately preceding gubernatorial or presidential election. See id. at § 302(1). A party which organizes itself under § 302(1), on the "coattails" of a prior independent candidate for office, need not demonstrate contemporaneously the level of voter support defined in § 303(1), but the party's candidates remain subject to the numerical voter-support requirements for later listing on the general election ballot. See id. at § 304.
Party recognition entails certain benefits, including public exposure, the prestige of "official" status, automatic listing of the party's presidential candidate on the election ballot, see id. at § 331(2)(A), and the right to raise funds by means of a special check-off box on the Maine income tax form. See 36 M.R.S.A. § 5283. With these benefits come certain responsibilities, including the obligation to hold municipal caucuses during election year, 21-A M.R.S.A. §§ 301(1)(A), 311; to hold a biennial state convention, id. at § 301(1)(B), 321; and to nominate candidates for office through a primary election process, id. at § 331(1). The primary election process is intended to control "ballot clutter" by ensuring that each political party nominates only one candidate for any particular office, and that the party nominee possesses the prescribed levels of support within his or her party and the general electorate. See Opinion of Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, 578 A.2d 183, 186 (Me.1990).
To qualify for the primary election ballot, a party candidate must present the Secretary of State, not later than April 1, with a petition signed by enough enrolled party members to demonstrate the level of party support prescribed for the particular "electoral division" to which the candidate seeks election. Id. at § 335(5). The required levels of petition support are shown in Table I.
TABLE 1
Number of Signatures Required to Qualify For
Primary Ballot (Registered Party Candidates) *
President of the United States 2000 signatures
United States Senator 2000 signatures
State Governor 2000 signatures
United States Representative 1000 signatures
County offices (other than County 150 signatures
Commissioner)
State Senator 100 signatures
County Commissioner 50 signatures
State Representative 25 signatures
* Signatures may come only from enrolled members of prospective candidate's
party
---------- A party candidate who does not obtain the signatures required to qualify for the primary election ballot may still qualify for the general election ballot by winning a plurality of the party's primary election write-in vote. Id. at § 723(1)(A). The write-in voting process is not restricted to members of the candidate's political party, but is open to any registered voter who is eligible to participate in the party primary. Id. at § 340. On the other hand, a successful write-in candidate must obtain votes totalling twice the number of signatures which would have been required to qualify for listing on the primary ballot under § 335(5). See id. at 723(1)(A).
TABLE II
Number of Signatures Required to Qualify For
General Election Ballot by Nomination Petition *
or by Write"In Vote in Party Primary **
Presidential elector 4000 signatures
United States Senator 4000 signatures
Governor 4000 signatures
United States Representative 2000 signatures
County office (other than County 300 signatures
Commissioner)
State Senator 200 signatures
County Commissioner 100 signatures
State Representative 50 signatures
* Signatures may come from any registered voter regardless of party
affiliation
** Write-in votes may come from any registered voter whom the party
declares eligible to participate in the party's primary (including
independent voters)
----------
Candidates who are not enrolled in a "qualified" party, or who withdraw their party affiliation at least three months in advance, see id. at § 353, may qualify for Maine's general election ballot through a third process, a nomination petition. Id. at § 351. The nomination petition must bear the names, signatures and addresses of enough registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, to meet the prescribed level of support for the particular "electoral division" to which the candidate aspires. Id. at § 354(1)-(2). Generally speaking, the number of signatures required on a nomination petition for any particular office is the same as that required for a write-in candidate to qualify at a party primary, see Table II, supra; and totals twice the number of signatures a party candidate would be required to obtain on a primary petition. See id. at § 354(5). A prospective candidate may list a party name (or "political designation") of up to three words on the nomination petition, id. at § 354(1), and on the general election ballot if s/he qualifies. Id. at § 602(2)(B).
For some time, the Libertarian Party has participated in Maine elections, apparently without achieving the level of voter support needed to qualify as an official political party under § 303. 1 In January 1991, however, Andrew Adam, an independent candidate who won 9% of the vote in the 1990 Maine gubernatorial election, permitted the Party to use his name to bypass the nomination-petition process and qualify automatically as a political party under the "coattail" provisions Anticipating its candidates' inability to qualify for the general election ballot through the prescribed statutory process, the Party amended its by-laws on May 17, 1992, to permit its candidates in the general election to be nominated at the Party convention. Following their nomination, the names of the appellant candidates were submitted to defendant-appellee, Secretary of State William Diamond ("Secretary"), who declined to place their names on the general election ballot, citing the mandatory language of the Maine election code. See id. at § 331(1) () (emphasis added); § 7 ().
of § 302(1). Following its certification as an "official" party, the Party made diligent efforts to attract members. By the date of the primary election on June 9, 1992, it had enrolled 1,048 registered voters statewide, but did not have sufficient concentrations of membership support to satisfy the signature requirements under § 335 for getting the appellant candidates on the primary election ballots in their respective districts. 2 The appellant candidates participated as write-in candidates in the Party primary, and in some instances won a plurality of the write-in votes cast in their respective districts, 3 but the total number of their write-in votes was insufficient to qualify the appellant candidates for the general election ballot under § 723(1)(A). 4
On August 10, 1992, the Party brought an action for injunctive relief against the Secretary, challenging, inter alia, the constitutionality of Maine's ballot-access restrictions. Following an expedited hearing, the district court dismissed the action. See Libertarian Party of Maine v. Diamond, 799 F.Supp. 1 (D.Me.1992). We denied injunctive relief pending appeal, on the ground that appellants had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their constitutional claim. In the 1992 general election, no Party candidate was elected to any state office. The Party's presidential candidates, Andrew Marrou and Nancy Lord, who were "automatically" listed on the general election...
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