This Cleveland Plain Dealer article says that the Ohio Debate Commission plans to host a gubernatorial debate on October 8, and that one of the affiliates of the Ohio Debate Commission is the City Club, which is a nonprofit organization. The Libertarian Party argues that the City Club cannot be involved in hosting a debate that does not include all four gubernatorial candidates. The four are the nominees of the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Green Party nominees.
On September 11, a Suffolk/Reno Gazette Journal Poll for Nevada was released. The poll included all ballot-listed candidates for Governor and U.S. Senate. See the results here. Question six has the U.S. Senate results, and question nine as the gubernatorial results. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
On September 11, the Arizona Secretary of State released the official tally of votes from the August 28 primaries. This is the first knowledge anyone has had of the write-ins in the primaries. Four parties held primaries: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Green. Neither of the last two parties had any candidates’ names printed on their primary ballots for any federal or state office. Instead, these parties attempted to nominate via write-ins in the primaries.
Arizona law on the minimum number of write-ins is highly discriminatory. If a party has earned qualified status at either this election, or the preceding election, then it can nominate with just one write-in vote, assuming the write-in candidate has no opponent in the primary. But if the party has been continuously qualified for five years or more previously, then it must have thousands of write-ins to nominate for statewide office, and hundreds to nominate for district office.
Thus, the Green Party was permitted to nominate for U.S. Senate. Its sole candidate for that office, Angela Green, received 389 write-ins. But the sole Libertarian write-in candidate in the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate, Adam Kokesh, was not deemed nominated, even though he polled 2,159 write-ins. Similar results occurred for other offices as well. See the results here. Thanks to Richard Grayson for the link.
A Libertarian Party lawsuit against the Arizona primary ballot access laws for continuously qualified minor parties is pending in the Ninth Circuit. All the briefs have been submitted, but there is no date yet for the oral argument. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law.
Soudth Carolina permits fusion, although it isn’t used very much, because if a candidate seeks the nomination of two parties, and he or she loses either nomination, then that candidate can’t have the other party’s nomination either.
Despite this damper on the use of fusion, there are some instances in 2018 in which a minor party cross-nominated a Democrat. The Working Families Party’s nominees this year are all Democratic Party nominees as well. They are for Treasurer, Attorney General, and 10 state house seats, in districts 45, 49, 69, 81, 85, 106, 110, 112, 115, and 116.
The American Party, which holds itself out as centrist, nominated two Democratic nominees, for State House in districts 75 and 106. The American Party also has its own nominees for Treasurer, three U.S. House seats (districts 2, 3, and 4), and State House (districts 6 and 49).
New Mexico elects its State House this year, for all 70 districts. The State Senate seats are not up; they are only up in presidential years. Among the 70 State House races, only one candidate is on the ballot in 34 districts.
The Democratic Party has nominees in 57 districts; the Republican Party has nominees in 45 districts; the Libertarian Party has nominees in two districts; and two independents are on the ballot.
On September 10, the Libertarian National Committee filed this brief in Libertarian National Committee v Federal Election Commission, 18-5227. This is the case over whether it is constitutional to forbid political parties from receiving large bequests as soon as the deceased person’s estate is settled.
Also on September 10, the FEC asked the D.C. Circuit to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiffs do not have standing. And, also on the same day, the Institute for Free Speech received permission to file an amicus curiae on the side of the Libertarian Party. The hearing is set for November 30.