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
Category Archives: third parties
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
Stu Rothenberg for WaPo: As long as Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein don’t qualify for the presidential debates, they won’t be able to attract voters away from the two major parties. Only when they can do … Continue reading
Az Cap Times: Arizonans who are concerned about Clinton, terrified of Trump and are jittery about Johnson are going to have another choice. Secretary of State Michele Reagan has agreed to put electors for Jill Stein on the Nov. 8 … Continue reading
BAN: On June 20, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that Virginia’s discriminatory listing of candidates on the general election ballot is constitutional. Libertarian Party of Virginia v Alcorn, 15-1162. The decision is by Judge J. Harvie … Continue reading
NYT: A conservative donor who has been scouring Republican ranks for a third-party candidate is pressing ahead with a group to get on the ballot in dozens of states. The candidate will come once the group sees that the ballot … Continue reading
AP: A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit by the Libertarian Party seeking to strike down a New Hampshire law that it argues could prevent third-party candidates from getting on the ballot. The Libertarian Party … Continue reading
Watch. … Continue reading
AP: A federal judge delivered a legal victory Friday to Ohio’s elections chief and a voter sued by Libertarians for their roles in disqualifying the party’s gubernatorial candidate from 2014 fall ballots. A lawyer for the Libertarian Party of Ohio … Continue reading
LAT: A new analysis finds nearly 32,000 voters in California’s American Independent Party changed their official registration and left the party in the two weeks after a Los Angeles Times investigation identified widespread confusion among the party’s members. The change comes after a series of … Continue reading
NYT: William F. Weld, the twice-elected former Republican governor of Massachusetts, who was last seen campaigning in the 2006 Republican primary for governor of New York, now hopes to be on a national ticket as the vice-presidential nominee of the … Continue reading
Richard Winger: California election laws and election officials seem determined to stamp out the word “independent.” The state seems eager to suppress that word, on voter registration forms, on ballots, and even in the Official Statewide Voter Guide. … Continue reading
Lessig: The law, however, permits corporations to support “nonpartisan activity,” so long as that activity is “designed to encourage individuals to vote or to register to vote.” The FEC has interpreted this law to permits corporate sponsorship of presidential candidate … Continue reading
HuffPo: Top Republican strategists this past week have stepped up a frantic effort to lay the groundwork for a third-party presidential run, even as elected officials within the party begin to make their peace with Donald Trump. The effort is … Continue reading
TPM: In a Monday newspaper column that borrows heavily from the language of Silicon Valley disruptors, former Politico CEO Jim VandeHei laid out a barely cogent “template” for usurping the order of “Establishment America.” Among VandeHei’s suggestions in The Wall … Continue reading
LAT: With nearly half a million registered members, the American Independent Party is bigger than all of California’s other minor parties combined. The ultraconservative party’s platform opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage, and calls for building a fence along … Continue reading