Case 1:20-cv-03325-AT Document 43 Filed 05/05/20 Page 16 of 30
plaintiff in this case meets the burden of showing irreparable injury. Without an injunction,
the . . . election will take place, notwithstanding write-in votes, the plaintiff will not be
considered on the ballot by the voters for a seat in the House of Representatives. Monetary
damages . . . would not compensate the plaintiff.”). The Court finds, therefore, that Plaintiffs
and Plaintiff-Intervenors have established the threat of irreparable harm absent a preliminary
injunction.
2. Likelihood of Success on the Merits
The Court concludes that Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenors have shown a clear and
substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claim that the Democratic Commissioners’
April 27 Resolution removing Yang, Sanders, and eight other Democratic presidential candidates
from the ballot deprived them of associational rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments
to the Constitution.
a. The Right of Association
Although “administration of the electoral process is a matter that the Constitution largely
entrusts to the States,” the Supreme Court has long recognized that “unduly restrictive state
election laws may so impinge upon freedom of association as to run afoul of the First and
Fourteenth Amendments.” Kusper v. Pontikes, 414 U.S. 51, 57 (1973). That includes state laws
governing which candidates may appear on the ballot. Ballot access rules implicate “two
different, although overlapping, kinds of rights—the right of individuals to associate for the
advancement of political beliefs, and the right of qualified voters, regardless of their political
persuasion, to cast their votes effectively.” Williams v. Rhodes, 393 U.S. 23, 30 (1968); see
Bullock v. Carter, 405 U.S. 134, 143 (1972) (“[T]he rights of voters and the rights of candidates
do not lend themselves to neat separation; laws that affect candidates always have at least some
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