Courthouse News: A change to the deadline for independent political candidates to register for elections signed is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.Kentucky House Bill 114, signed into law by former Governor Matt Bevin in March 2019, changed the deadline for state … Continue reading
Category Archives: third parties
Detroit News: A federal district judge on Sunday overturned state law governing independent candidates’ access to the ballot and lowered the signature threshold for qualification in 2020. Michigan Eastern District Judge Victoria Roberts ruled that the state’s ballot access requirements were “severely … Continue reading
Tucson.com: The Arizona Libertarian Party is making a last-ditch effort to quash a state statute that it says was designed to keep its candidates off the ballot.In filings with the U.S. Supreme Court, attorney Oliver Hall from the Center for … Continue reading
Star Tribune: Two national campaign committees supporting congressional Democrats have filed a federal lawsuit challenging ballot order rules that will list DFL candidates in Minnesota beneath their major-party rivals in the 2020 general election.The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court … Continue reading
Newsday: The panel is charged with developing a voluntary system of using state funds to help pay for political campaigns, but Cuomo and other legislative leaders also tasked the commission with looking at the merits of fusion voting. The system provides … Continue reading
27east.com: Working Families Party leadership is telling party members that the two Southampton Town Board candidates who will appear on its line on the November 5 ballot do not represent the party’s values — and they should vote for someone … Continue reading
LAT: An effort to limit voter confusion in California by banning the use of the word “independent” in a political party’s name was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, a rejection of a proposal that would have forced one of the state’s lesser-known … Continue reading
Josh Marshall: As we’ve seen both before his election and since, Trump is a minority candidate, essentially a factional leader, who has incredibly durable support of between 35% and 45% of the population. He really, really needs the presence of … Continue reading
The decision is here. (h/t, as in everything ballot access, to Richard Winger.) … Continue reading
An interesting commentary on the debate over fusion voting in New York. … Continue reading
Stateline reports. … Continue reading
Opinion by Judge Barrett. … Continue reading
CA3 Blog: The Delaware Constitution sets out a unique method for selecting state-court judges: the Governor appoints them (based on recommendations from nominating commissions, and without legislative involvement) subject to a requirement that the judges of each court contain a … Continue reading
538 reports. … Continue reading
BAN: On December 3, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Soltysik v Padilla, 16-55758. This is the case in which Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik, a registered Socialist, challenged the California law that forces him to appear on the ballot with … Continue reading
Newday reports. … Continue reading
Missed this Francis Fox Piven/Miles Rapoport piece from last month: If the court should rule for the plaintiffs, it would make a stunning gift to American democracy at a time when such is truly needed. It would provide an easy … Continue reading
Courthouse News Service reports. … Continue reading
John Myers for the LAT. … Continue reading
AP: A man who registered as a Green Party candidate for Montana’s U.S. Senate race was on the state Republican Party’s payroll and heads a newly formed anti-tax group, according to a review of election documents. Timothy Adams filed as … Continue reading
Richard Winger: The opinion says that the March 27 petition deadline is too early, especially given winter weather in South Dakota. It also says the 2.5% (of the last gubernatorial vote) is also too high, given the historical record of … Continue reading
NYT column. … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
NYT reports. … Continue reading
Judge Brown opinion, with a Judge Pillard concurrence. The majority opinion begins: Every four years, we suffer through the celebration of democracy (and national nightmare) that is a presidential election. And, in the end, one person is selected to occupy … Continue reading
Read the order and opinion here. … Continue reading
BAN: On June 6, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge William O. Bertelsman, a Carter appointee, struck down a Kentucky campaign finance contribution limit that discriminated in favor of the Republican and Democratic Parties, and against all other parties. Shickel v … Continue reading
Yes, that’s right. One fact obscured by analysis that focuses only on the Trump and Clinton vote totals is that overall turnout this year is likely to end up being essentially the same as in 2012. A big difference is … Continue reading
CNN: Neither Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson nor the Green Party’s Jill Stein managed to make a dent in the Electoral College, but they did post a significant enough showing in several states arguably to help elect Donald Trump. Trump … Continue reading
My colleague Henry Weinstein has written this LA Times oped. … Continue reading
Richard Winger: The 2016 Green Party nominee in this race, Ray Parrish, was nominated in the 2016 Green Party primary with 66 write-in votes. A Libertarian, Kim Allen, ran in the Libertarian primary in this district this year. Allen received … Continue reading
FiveThirtyEight. … Continue reading
In my recent USA Today oped, I wrote: “Despite Nader saying there was “not a dime’s worth of difference” between Republican Bush and Democrat Gore, without Nader on the Florida ballot, we might not have had an Iraq War and all of … Continue reading
NYT: The vast majority of millennials were not old enough to vote in 2000, when Ralph Nader ran as the Green Party nominee and, with the strong backing of young voters, helped cost Vice President Al Gore the presidency. “Ralph … Continue reading
BAN: On September 23, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 14-15976, saying that the party’s challenge to the February petition deadline for new parties fails because the Green Party submitted no evidence that the … Continue reading
NYT: WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton and her Democratic allies, unnerved by the tightening presidential race, are making a major push to dissuade disaffected voters from backing third-party candidates, and pouring more energy into Rust Belt states, where Donald J. Trump … Continue reading
Daniel Strauss for Politico: Evan McMullin is running as an independent conservative alternative to Donald Trump. Who McMullin is running with, however, is a bit of a mystery. In all nine states where he has officially qualified on the presidential … Continue reading
WaPo: Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, was asked about the current 15 percent polling threshold during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Probably too high,” said Sanders, who is set to return to the campaign trail Monday in … Continue reading
AP: If Hillary Clinton carries Arizona in November, there’s a good chance it won’t be because Democrats on their own have flipped a reliable GOP state they hope to win consistently someday. Instead, Clinton and Democrats may have Gary Johnson … Continue reading
Weigel. … Continue reading
The Monkey Cage. … Continue reading
The Court, without comment or noted dissent, has turned down the Libertarians’ request to have Johnson and Weld listed as Libertarians on the ballot. This not only would have helped Johnson and Weld by giving them a party label; it … Continue reading
Weigel. … Continue reading
BAN: On August 26, the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Grimes, 16-6107. The opinion upholds Kentucky’s failure to have any procedure for a group to transform itself into a qualified party, in advance of … Continue reading
BAN reports. … Continue reading
Response due to SCOTUS by tomorrow at 3. Here’s my coverage from yesterday. … Continue reading
Via Chris Geidner, comes this emergency motion to get the Johnson/Weld ticket on the Ohio ballot listed as Libertarians. (It is uncertain if Johnson/Weld might make it on the ballot as independent candidates without a party label should this petition … Continue reading
NBC First Read: The reaction to the news of the latest Trump campaign shake-up has ranged from shock and disbelief to laughter. “Hiring [Breitbart’s Steve] Bannon to run the campaign in the midst of its crisis is insane,” Republican consultant … Continue reading
Josh Gerstein: A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit alleging that the Commission on Presidential Debates violated federal antitrust laws and the First Amendment by excluding third-party candidates. In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer dismissed … Continue reading