The CNN article says eight states have not yet issued social-distancing orders: Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. The other forty-two states have. If a state has issued a social-distancing order and has not made any allowance for petitioning, it is likely to face pressure to suspend petitioning, or a lawsuit. But Louisiana allows any candidate to get on the ballot without a petition, so Louisiana is unlikely to be sued. Anyone in Louisiana can get on with a filing fee. Louisiana should be looked at as a model for the other states. Also Vermont has already abolished mandatory candidate petitioning this year.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
I have a source in Arkansas who told me that the petitions that were gathering signatures there, one for video gambling at truck stops and bars, one for medical marijuana, and one for and independent candidate, all shut down due to Coronavirus scare.
I am pretty sure that all, or almost all, petitions in general have shut down, or been delayed, due to Coronavirus.
This does not just impact candidate and/or party petitions, it also impacts initiative, referendum, and recall petitions, as well as voter registration drives, and GOTV (Get Out The Vote) canvassing.
The marijuana petition in Arkansas I mentioned above is actually for recreational marijuana. Arkansas already passed medical marijuana via citizens initiative a few years ago.
Eight + 40 = 48, not 50. Might need an edit there.
thank you, socratic.
Andy is correct about Arkansas.
Because Arkansas and Utah both require 1000 signatures, it’s a particularly strange situation for some of us who are in parties smaller than the Greens and Libertarians who were going to focus on getting on in as many states that require about 1000 signatures. It’s understandable that most petitioners want to stop voluntarily anyway.
Hopefully more states will end up like Louisiana and now Vermont. The New Jersey solution is interesting as well, but there could be a lot of unclear standards for online recruiting.
I did hear that in addition to the independent candidate for a non-presidential candidate petition in Arkansas which stopped due to Coronavirus, that there was also a petition for a presidential ticket for a small party which also stopped.
ONE voter forms –
Nom and issue pets
Aquí estoy de nuevo con todas mis charlas tontas y sin sentido.
I agree that Louisiana should be looked at as a model for elections for other states.
States that are unable to hold partisan primaries could have all candidates qualify for a November election, followed by a runoff if necessary.
This first election (or primary) would be open to all voters and candidates. It might be called an Open Primary.
@JR, it might, but it isn’t
No candidate fees.
@BL,
In Texas, the Open Primary was used in November 1996 and November 2006 to elect some Representatives. This was after the district boundaries had been overturned. Any results from exclusionary partisan primaries earlier in the year were discarded.
Re terminology see footnote 13, page 631 of United States Congressional Elections 1788-1997, Michael Dubin.
Also page 694, special election for TX-22 (open primary and runoff). This was the event in which Ron Paul was first elected to Congress.
Political parties are not extensions of the state and should not be treated as such.
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