On February 8, the California Secretary of State released this list of presidential candidates who will be on presidential primary ballots. The list has some surprises. Many states have laws saying election officials should list presidential candidates on primary ballots automatically if they are discussed in the news media. But most states with such laws have got into the habit of letting the state party say which candidates should go on the ballots. The Secretary of State of California has taken the California law literally, and has added some candidates not mentioned by the various parties. The Secretary of State has also deleted some candidates whom the parties had suggested.
The Secretary of State accepted the Libertarian Party’s list as suggested by the Libertarian Party. The twelve names on that ballot are the names on the national Libertarian Party’s webpage.
The Secretary of State added some names to the Green Party’s list. The state party had not listed Sedinam Curry-Moyowasifa, but the Secretary of State added her anyway. She is a declared candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination, and she is on the Massachusetts Green Party’s presidential primary ballot, and she participated in the presidential candidate debate held January 28 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The Secretary of State deleted one name from the Peace & Freedom list. He deleted Jill Stein, even though she wanted to be on that ballot. It may be that the Secretary of State removed her from the PFP ballot because he decided it is improper for anyone to be listed in the presidential primary of two different ballots. However, there is no law saying presidential candidates cannot be listed in two different presidential primary ballots. Or, maybe the Secretary of State deleted her because the news coverage of her campaign doesn’t talk about her seeking the nomination of any party except the Green Party.
The Secretary of State added Governor Jim Gilmore to the Republican list. Even though he had stopped getting his name on the Republican presidential primary ballots in other states, he has never said he is withdrawing or suspending his campaign. The Republican Party of California had not forwarded Gilmore’s name. The Secretary of State did delete the Republicans who were on the party’s suggested list, but who have withdrawn since the party sent in its list.
Perhaps most surprising is the Secretary of State’s list of Democrats. The Secretary of State listed Rocky De La Fuente, Henry Hewes, Keith Judd, Michael Steinberg, and Willie Wilson; of course the Secretary of State also listed Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. California is the first state to have put De La Fuente on the ballot, on the basis that he is mentioned in news media.
The Secretary of State only listed seven candidates on the American Independent Party ballot, even though the party had asked him to list fifteen. The Secretary of State did not list Donald Trump on the AIP ballot, even though the party had asked him to do that. The Secretary of State did list Jim Hedges, who is also the Prohibition Party’s presidential nominee. Presidential candidates not listed are free to submit a petition signed by 1% of a party’s registered members, and it is conceivable that the AIP will promote a petition to place Trump on its ballot.
As it turns out, I am one of seven on the CA AIP Primary Election ballot in June. – J.R.Myers
http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/…/2016-generally-recognized…
The United Coalition has 23 candidates for public office working in coordination for the good of the whole.
Democratics and Republicans working togther to help third parties and independents attain proportional representation.
In 2012 it worked fine, I won the only presidential primary that allowed Libertarian Presidential candidates on the ballot in a state primary of Missouri, which fell before the Libertarian National convention, with 52.7% as I was the Libertarian. Not 50%, 52.7%.
Gary Johnson was on the same ballot- as a Republican.
Now the roles are switched and he is a Libertarian and me a Republican.
I came in 2nd as chair of the state Libertarian Party against Takenaga in 2007 when I was promoting multi-winner elections (chair and vice chair simultaneously). But Kevin Takenaga has never returned an email or phone call since 1995. Google derived from my initials in 1997 but they got it wrong.
Are you interested in a unifying voting system? Check out the USA Parliament:
http://www.usparliament.org
Noe there is a new International Parliament:
http://www.international-parliament.org
Pure proportional representation (PR) is the peaceful decision-making alternative to force and violence.
Don’t you think it’s time we tried to work together under pure proportional representation? The USA Parliament hss been doing just that for more than twenty consecutive years and it works fine.
Three Hawaiian’s were left off the list, viz. Kafo, Peabody, &
Sisilo. Why does the SOS not want Hawaiian to run for POTUS in
California. He also left off a full blooded Eskimo. However, he
did list a fellow Alaska on the list that was not native Alaskan.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg
Where is Nathan Norman?
Good for you, J.R.
Someone should mention to Padilla that Ralph Nader appeared on both the PFP and GP primary ballots in 2008.
Not only was Ralph Nader on both the Green and Peace and Freedom ballots in June 2008, but so was Cynthia McKinney. There is simply no legal basis for Padilla’s decision. Sadly, this is not the first time a Secretary of State has taken arbitrary and legally baseless action against the rights of a smaller party.
I think that the arbitrary decisions of the current Secretary of State may be windows to see how he would govern the state if he becomes Governor.