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CASE STUDIES IN EMERGENCY ELECTION LITIGATION
Ballot Petition Signature Requirements in Maine
During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Bond v. Dunlap (1:20-cv-216) and
Jorgensen v. Dunlap (1:20-cv-272) (Nancy Torresen, D. Me.)
Because of social distancing made necessary by the global COVID-
19 infectious pandemic, prospective candidates in Maine's 2020 gen-
eral election sought court-ordered modifications to the ballot peti-
tion signature requirements. One candidate's effort was unsuccess-
ful, and the other's was mooted by her obtaining a sufficient number
of signatures without judicial modification.
Subject: Getting on the ballot. Topics: Getting on the ballot;
COVID-19; intervention; laches.
Prospective candidates in the November 3, 2020, general election sought mod-
ifications to Maine's ballot petition signature requirements in light of social
distancing made necessary by the global COVID-19 infectious pandemic. One
case was unsuccessful, and another was mooted by meeting the state's require-
ments.
United States Senate
A prospective candidate for the U.S. Senate filed a federal complaint in the
District of Maine on Friday, June 19, 2020, against Maine's governor, secretary
of state, senate president, and house of representatives speaker, seeking relief
from the ballot petition signature requirements.1 Among other relief, the com-
plaint sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.2
On the day that the complaint was filed, Judge Nancy Torresen ordered
service of the complaint on the state and set the case for a telephone conference
on Monday.3 Judge Torresen's strategy during the pandemic was to hold as
telephone conferences proceedings that otherwise would have been held in
chambers with just the parties' attorneys, but anything that would have been
held in open court would have been open to the public.4 Judge Torresen or-
dered the plaintiff to seek the immediate injunction by separate motion and
ordered briefing completed by July 13.5
1. Complaint, Bond v. Dunlap, No. 1:20-cv-216 (D. Me. June 19, 2020), D.E. 1.
2. Id. at 23; Docket Sheet, id. (June 19, 2020) [hereinafter Bond Docket Sheet] (D.E. 2).
3. Bond Docket Sheet, supra note 2 (D.E. 5, 6); see id. (minutes, D.E. 7).
Tim Reagan interviewed Judge Torresen for this report by telephone on September 18,
2020.
4. Interview with Hon. Nancy Torresen, Sept. 18, 2020.
5. Bond Docket Sheet, supra note 2 (D.E. 8); see Motion, Bond, No. 1:20-cv-216 (D. Me.
June 29, 2020), D.E. 11 (noting that the signature-collection period had ended and that ballot
petitions were due in two days).
Federal Judicial Center 11/3/2020
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