The Louisiana Secretary of State’s web page shows that the Prohibition Party has placed its presidential nominee, Jack Fellure, on the ballot. The party label will be printed on the ballot. Louisiana is apparently the only state in which he will be listed.
The web page also shows that the Republican, Libertarian, Constitution, and Party for Socialism and Liberation have also placed their presidential nominees on the ballot. The deadline is Friday, September 7.
On September 5, U.S. District Court Judge Peter C. Economus ordered that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted personally appear in court in Columbus on September 13. This involves the pending lawsuit Obama for America v Husted, 2:12cv-636. The Secretary of State had declined to follow an earlier order by Judge Economus that the state permit early voting during the weekend before the election. The basis for the decision is equal protection, because the state lets members of the military vote on that weekend, although each county is free to allow or disallow such early voting by members of the military.
See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.
The November 2012 ballot in Arkansas will list only one candidate on the ballot for State Representative, district 54. He is Fred Smith, the Green Party nominee. His only ballot-listed opponent, incumbent Democrat Hudson Hallum, has resigned from the race and from the legislature. See this story. Arkansas permits write-in votes in the general election, so it is not a certainty that Smith will win.
Assuming Smith does win, this will be the second time the Green Party has elected a state legislator in Arkansas by virtue of being in a race in which no other party had a nominee on the general election ballot. The first time was in 2008, when Richard Carroll was elected. He remained in the Green Party for a year, and got a bill through the legislature expanding the petitioning period for newly-qualifying parties from two months to three months. But then he switched to the Democratic Party, and he lost the Democratic primary in 2010.
On September 5, a referee for the Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments in the lawsuit filed by the Americans Elect Party of Oklahoma against the State Board of Elections. The issue is whether the state should accept the nomination of Gary Johnson, made by the state party on July 21; or whether the state should follow the wishes of the national Americans Elect Party leaders, who don’t want any party nominations in any state.
The hearing lasted one hour and ten minutes, and the small hearing room was filled to capacity, so that some observers had to stand. The state will be given a chance to file a reply brief no later than September 11. Here is a short news story about the hearing.
On September 5, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras, from the District of Columbia district, issued an 18-page decision about debates. The case is La Botz v Federal Election Commission, 11-1247. It says that the FEC was wrong to have dismissed a complaint filed by the 2010 Socialist Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio, Dan La Botz. La Botz had been denied participation in the U.S. Senate candidate debates, which were restricted to only the Democratic and Republican nominees. The debates had been sponsored by a consortium of eight Ohio newspapers, which are corporations. FEC rules provide that debates sponsored by for-profit corporations may exclude some candidates, but the debate sponsors must have predetermined, objective criteria as to whom should be invited.
When La Botz was refused entry to the debates, he complained to the FEC, which dismissed his complaint, even though it appeared that the debate sponsors had no objective criteria when they planned the debates. The ruling says the FEC must re-examine the case. The decision also says the case is not moot, because (1) La Botz has said he intends to run for public office in the future; (2) even if he hadn’t said that, it is likely that similar cases involving other minor party and independent candidates will arise in the future in Ohio.
Quebec held an election for its provincial legislature on September 4. Quebec, and all Canadian provinces, use the same election system the U.S. uses, “first past the post”. Whoever gets the most votes in each single-member district is elected.
The Parti Quebecois polled 31.93% of the popular vote, and won 54 seats.
The Liberal Party (the party that had been in power) polled 31.20% of the popular vote, and won 50 seats.
A new party, the Coalition Avenir Quebec, polled 27.05% of the popular vote, but only won 19 seats. It believes Quebec should forget about leaving Canada.
Quebec Solidaire, a party of the left, polled 6.03% of the popular vote and won two seats.
Two other parties polled at least 1% of the popular vote, but didn’t win any seats. They are Option Nationale, which is more in favor of Quebec becoming an independent nation than any of the other parties. It won 1.90% of the vote. Also, the Green Party (Parti Vert) won 1.00% of the popular vote. Thanks to Sam Harley and Thomas Jones for this news.