[EL] Candidate Standing

[Michael Morley]

In Shays v. FEC, 414 F.3d 76, 85 (D.C. Cir. 2005), the court allowed members of Congress running for re-election to challenge FEC regulations implementing BCRA on the grounds that they were too lenient and gave their opponents and others too much flexibility to raise and spend money.  The court held that allegedly “illegal structuring of a competitive environment” is “sufficient to support Article III standing.”  Id.  The court recognized that while “the challenged rules create[d] neither more nor different rival candidates,” they required the plaintiffs to “anticipate and respond to a broader range of competitive tactics than federal law would otherwise allow.”  Id. at 86.  It explained that such “additional competitors and additional tactics . . .  fundamentally alter the environment” in which candidates must compete.  Id.  Thus, the court concluded that candidates had standing to challenge “FEC rules structuring reelection contests” that allegedly violated federal law.  Id. at 94.


Several other circuits have recognized that candidates may assert "competitive standing" under certain circumstances to challenge election administrators' failure to adequately enforce electoral rules or restrictions, especially against other candidates.  See, e.g., Tex. Democratic Party v. Benkiser, 459 F.3d 582, 587 (5th Cir. 2006); Schulz v. Williams, 44 F.3d 48, 53 (2d Cir. 1994); Fulani v. Hogsett, 917 F.2d 1028, 1030 (7th Cir. 1990).


Hope this helps,


Michael


Michael T. Morley

Assistant Professor of Law

Florida State University College of Law

mmorley at law.fsu.edu

(860) 778-3883



________________________________
From: Law-election <law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> on behalf of Steven John Mulroy (smulroy) <smulroy at memphis.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 1, 2019 12:47 AM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
Subject: [EL] Candidate Standing

Does anyone know of state or federal authority that a candidate has standing to challenge the election rules she runs under,  if an allegedly illegal electoral system would make it harder for her to win the election, or force her to change campaign strategies in an adverse way? (  I'm not talking about a complete inability to get on the ballot.)
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