Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in defense of Minnesota’s ballot order statute, which places candidates on the ballot based on party affiliation, with the party netting the lowest number of votes in the preceding election listed first. Eighteen other states have statutes that order candidates based on party affiliation, and Texas’s statute was upheld just two weeks ago. 

“Like other ballot order statutes that recently have been challenged, the Minnesota ballot order statute is lawful. Three federal judges in separate cases have already concluded that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee challenges to ballot order statutes in other states present non-justiciable political questions. This case is merely a politicized attempt to replace laws passed by democratically elected representatives with injunctions issued by unelected judges,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Legitimate election laws must be preserved and properly followed to ensure the smooth, safe, and free operation of our democratic process.”  

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.