U.S. DISTRICT COURT GRANTS INJUNCTIVE RELIEF AGAINST MAINE DEADLINE FOR NEW PARTIES

On May 27, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued an order enjoining Maine’s deadline for newly-qualifying parties to get on the ballot. He also said that the Libertarian Party, the only party that tried to qualify in Maine this year, may have until July 12 to finish getting its needed 5,000 registered members. Libertarian Party of Maine v Dunlap, 2:16cv-2.

The law says new parties must obtain their registrants by December 1 of the year before the election. The order says, "Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on their claim that Maine’s party-certification deadline of December 1 is unconstitutionally early."

The order also criticizes the state for having no method for a new party to contest a finding that it failed to obtain 5,000 registered members. The Libertarian Party had submitted 6,482 registration forms by the deadline, but election officials had rejected 1,969 of them, mostly because the handwriting on the registration cards was illegible, or because some blank on the form had not been filled out. As the order says, the Libertarian Party had no means to contest these disqualifications except by filing the lawsuit. By contrast, candidates have an administrative procedure to re-validate petitions, if they are told initially disqualified.

Judge Woodcock had refused injunctive relief on April 25. It is very rare to persuade any judge to change his or her mind, but the Libertarian Party had asked for reconsideration, and it worked. The judge said that when he issued his April 25 ruling, he had thought the party was asking to participate in the June primary, but the party was able to show that this was a misunderstanding.

When the Secretary of State had rejected the party’s filing in December 2015, he had also had all the Libertarian registrants converted to independents, without even asking them first. The order does not require election officials to change these applicants back to Libertarians. It is not clear what will happen once the party does qualify. The party has already obtained more than 487 new Libertarian registrations, and those registration forms will be submitted soon. The party expects to be qualified by mid-June.

The order does not require the state to print the names of the Libertarians who are running for U.S. House on the November ballot. It says that they have not shown any support within their districts. There is no U.S. Senate race in Maine this year, nor any other statewide office besides President. The decision may help other pending lawsuits over early deadlines, in Arkansas, Arizona, and South Dakota.

This decision is the first ballot access win for minor parties or independent candidates in Maine since 1986. That year, an independent candidate for Governor, Sherry Huber, won a decision in state court that it was unconstitutional for Maine to deprive independent candidates of any ballot label whatsoever. Even the word "independent" wasn’t permitted.

On May 5, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed SB 896, which eases the law on how a party remains on the ballot. It lowers the vote test from 10% to 2.5%. The only two states that still have 10% vote tests are New Jersey and Virginia.

Decisions are expected in the next few weeks on whether to put certain parties on the ballot.

Kentucky: a decision is expected any day over whether the state must have a procedure for a group to turn itself into a qualified party before any particular election. Libertarian Party v Grimes, e.d., 3:15cv-86.

Ohio: the Sixth Circuit is about to decide whether the Libertarian Party should be restored to the ballot. On May 20, a U.S. District Court ruled against the party. The issue is whether the state used discriminatory enforcement when it kept the party’s gubernatorial candidate off the Libertarian primary ballot in 2014. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 16-3537.

The party also has a lawsuit pending in state court, over whether the 2013 law that is keeping the party off the ballot violates the State Constitution. However, there is no indication that this case will have a decision soon. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, Franklin Co., 16-cv-554.

Pennsylvania: the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties are asking the Third Circuit to put them on the ballot. All the briefs will have been filed by June 10. On May 19, a U.S. District Court had ruled that only the Third Circuit can decide this case. Constitution Party of Pennsylvania v Cortes, 15-3046.

Tennessee: the Constitution and Green Parties will ask for injunctive relief, putting them on the ballot, on June 8. Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 3:11cv-692. The Libertarian Party may intervene in this case.

Alaska: on May 15, the Democratic Party held a state convention, and amended its bylaws to say that a registered independent is free to run in the Democratic primary for Congress or state office. State law does not permit such candidacy. Eventually the party will sue the state to put its new bylaw into effect. The party already lost a lawsuit on this in April, but the reason was that the party hadn’t yet changed its bylaws, so it didn’t have standing.

Hawaii: on May 4, the Democratic Party argued in the Ninth Circuit in Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago, 13-17545. State law requires all parties to nominate by open primary, but the Democratic Party argues that Republicans are voting in its primaries, and wants to limit the primary to people who sign in as Democrats. The U.S. District Court had ruled against the party on the grounds that it hadn’t proved that Republicans are voting in its primaries. The party argues that it is impossible to obtain such proof, because on primary day, voters choose a primary ballot in secret.

Missouri: on May 21-22, the Republican Party held its state convention, and voted to seek a closed primary for itself, either by legislative action or by lawsuit.

Montana: the Republican Party has been suing to obtain a closed primary for itself. It was set to argue in the Ninth Circuit on May 4, but then cancelled the hearing and put its own lawsuit on hold until the Ninth Circuit decides the Hawaii case.

Utah: the Republican Party has asked the Tenth Circuit to hear its appeal in Utah Republican Party v Herbert, 16-4058. The issue is the state law that allows individuals to get on a primary ballot even if they have little support at a party caucus. However, such candidates must complete a very difficult petition. The Republican Party wants to block such candidates from its primaries.

California: on May 23, the State Senate passed SB 1288 by 23-12. It lets all cities and counties, not just charter cities and counties, use Instant Runoff Voting for their own elections.

Minnesota: on May 22, Governor Mark Dayton signed SF 2985, which establishes presidential primaries in future years. Any qualified party would have such a primary, although only the two largest parties would have the ability to set the date. If they don’t agree, the primary would be the first Tuesday in March.

Minnesota (2): on May 22, the Governor also signed SF 2381, the omnibus election law bill. Unfortunately, on May 20, the bill had been amended to eliminate the two ballot access improvements. One of the improvements was to delete the wording on the independent candidate petition that suggested signers should not vote in the upcoming primary. The other would have decreased the number of signatures for independent candidates in special elections.

Two federal lawsuits are pending over California’s restrictive election laws concerning ballot labels, both in the Ninth Circuit.

The first case, Soltysik v Padilla, concerns the law that won’t allow candidates to show their party on the ballot, unless they are members of a qualified party. The plaintiffs lost in U.S. District Court on April 22 and have since appealed to the Ninth Circuit. They are registered "Socialist" but the law requires their ballot label to be "Party preference: none."

The other case, Independent Party v Padilla, lost in U.S. District Court on May 4. Judge William Shubb, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld the action of the Secretary of State in refusing to let the Independent Party try to get on the ballot.

In California new parties qualify by obtaining approximately 60,000 registered members. Chances are the party already has that many registered members, but the Secretary of State refuses to produce the data, because he says it would cause confusion if a party named Independent Party were to qualify. The judge said there "might": be confusion, and he ignored all the evidence that there has been little confusion in the eleven other states that have a ballot-qualified party named "Independent Party", or had one recently.

The Independent Party of Oregon has said it is willing to file an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit, on the side of the Independent Party of California.

Primary Screenout, by Patrick J. Dixon. Amazon price: $15.00. 284 pages, paperback.

Patrick Dixon has written a very useful and also a very funny account of how he went from being not interested in politics, to being state chair of the Texas Libertarian Party for ten event-filled years. The title refers to the unique Texas law that won’t let primary voters sign a petition for an independent candidate or a party to get on the ballot. The book describes the Libertarian Party’s struggle to get back on the ballot in 2004, after it went off the ballot in November 2002 for failing to get 5% of the vote in any statewide race.

But the book is about far more than just ballot access. It tells the story of how a minor party in this country, without professional expert staff, learns to publicize itself, raise money, organize a functioning state committee, finds candidates and helps them know how to campaign. Best of all, the book is written as Dixon’s own adventure in trying to accomplish these goals. I frequently laughed out loud as I was reading it. This book is recommended for anyone else active in the leadership of a political party.

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES COLLECTED			THREE TYPES OF DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	Full Party	Pres Party	Pres. Indp.
Ala.	35,413	5,000	0	0	*200	Mar. 1	Mar. 1	Aug. 18
Alaska	(reg) 8,399	#3,005	already on	*2,450	already on	May 2	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Ariz.	20,119	* #35,514	already on	already on	0	March 3	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
Ark.	10,000	#1,000	already on	already on	already on	Sep 2 ‘15	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Calif.	(es) (reg) 61,000	178,039	already on	already on	*340	Jan. 4	July 11	Aug. 12
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $1,000	already on	already on	already on	Jan. 8	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	*1,300	*1,100	0	– –	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Del.	(reg) *654	*6,526	already on	*600	*318	Aug. 20	Aug. 20	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #4,600	can’t start	already on	can’t start	– –	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Florida	be organized	119,316	already on	already on	already on	April 15	Sep. 1	July 15
Georgia	*7,500	*#7,500	already on	*500	*500	July 12	July 12	July 12
Hawaii	707	#4,347	already on	already on	already on	*Feb. 25	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Idaho	13,047	1,000	already on	0	already on	Aug. 30	Aug. 30	Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	*12,500	*12,000	*200	– –	June 27	June 27
Indiana	no procedure	#26,700	already on	0	0	– –	June 30	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	*600	1,200	*100	– –	Aug. 19	Aug. 19
Kansas	16,960	5,000	already on	1,000	0	June 1	June 1	Aug. 1
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	in court	0	in court	– –	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	124	May 21	Aug. 19	Aug. 19
Maine	(reg) 5,000	#4,000	*finished	already on	0	Dec 1 2015	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Md.	10,000	*40,603	already on	already on	0	Aug. 1	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Mass.	(est) (reg) 45,000	#10,000	0	already on	0	Feb. 2	Aug. 2	Aug. 2
Mich.	31,519	30,000	already on	already on	already on	July 21	July 21	July 21
Minn.	98,770	#2,000	0	0	0	May 2	Aug. 23	Aug. 23
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	Feb. 1	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	*400	already on	Aug. 1	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	0	0	Mar. 17	Aug. 17	Aug. 17
Nebr.	5,395	2,500	already on	500	0	Aug. 1	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Nev.	5,431	5,431	already on	*finished	already on	June 3	June 3	July 8
N. Hamp.	*14,866	#3,000	0	*410	0	Aug. 10	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	*200	finished	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
N. M.	2,565	15,388	already on	already on	already on	June 30	June 30	June 30
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	can’t start	already on	can’t start	– –	Aug. 2	Aug. 2
No. Car.	89,366	89,366	already on	*0	0	May 17	May 17	June 9
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	already on	0	0	Apr. 16	Sep. 5	Sep. 5
Ohio	30,560	5,000	in court	already on	0	July 6	July 6	Aug. 10
Okla.	24,745	40,047	already on	0	0	March 1	July 15	July 15
Oregon	22,046	17,893	already on	already on	already on	Aug. 30	Aug. 30	Aug. 30
Penn.	no procedure	*21,775	*8,000	*4,500	*0	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
R.I.	16,203	#1,000	0	0	0	Aug. 1	Sep. 9	Sep. 9
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	May 8	May 8	July 15
So. Dak.	6,936	2,775	*finished	0	already on	Mar. 29	July 11	Aug. 4
Tenn.	33,816	275	*2,000	in court	in court	Aug. 10	Aug. 10	Aug. 18
Texas	47,086	79,939	already on	already on	0	May 22	May 22	May 9
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	0	already on	Feb. 15	Aug. 15	Aug. 15
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	0	0	Dec 31 ‘15	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Virginia	no procedure	#5,000	*1,050	*850	0	– –	Aug. 26	Aug. 26
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	*0	*750	*0	– –	July 23	July 23
West Va.	no procedure	#6,705	already on	already on	9,650	– –	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	already on	already on	already on	April 1	Aug. 2	Aug. 2
Wyo.	3,302	3,302	already on	0	already on	June 1	June 1	Aug. 30
TOTAL STATES ON			32	21	17	“	“	“

#partisan label is permitted on the ballot (other than "independent").
"CONSTI" = Constitution Party.
The number of signatures for new parties is in court in Tennessee; for independents, in New Mexico.
* = change since April 1, 2016 issue.

~	1st BALLOT							2nd BALLOT
STATE	JOHNSON	PETERSN	McAFEE	PERRY	FELDM	McCOR		JOHNSON	PETERSN	McAFEE	PERRY	FELDMAN
Ala	7	1	3	2	0	0		9	1	2	1	0
Alas	0	5	0	0	1	0		0	5	0	0	1
Ariz	11	2	7	2	2	2		11	4	8	2	0
Ark	4	0	3	0	1	0		5	0	4	0	0
Cal	48	33	21	4	4	3		56	33	25	2	1
Colo	17	2	1	2	0	0		17	1	1	3	1
Ct	3	4	3	0	0	0		4	4	0	1	0
Del	1	1	0	0	0	1		1	2	0	0	0
DC	3	0	0	0	0	0		3	0	0	0	0
Fla	28	13	3	5	4	0		31	12	5	3	2
Ga	9	5	8	4	5	0		10	8	10	2	1
Hi	4	1	0	0	0	0		4	1	0	0	0
Id	6	1	0	0	0	0		6	1	0	0	2
Ill	19	4	3	1	0	0		19	4	3	1	2
Ind	18	9	4	2	1	0		24	8	1	0	1
Iowa	3	3	1	0	2	1		4	5	2	0	0
Kan	2	2	0	1	0	0		2	4	0	0	0
Ky	7	0	3	0	1	0		8	0	3	0	0
La	4	8	0	0	0	0		4	8	0	1	0
Me	2	5	0	0	0	0		2	5	0	0	0
Md	10	2	0	2	4	0		10	0	1	2	2
Mass	8	0	3	0	0	0		8	0	3	0	0
Mich	15	1	5	1	2	0		16	1	4	2	1
Minn	5	2	0	2	0	0		8	1	0	1	0
Miss	6	1	1	0	0	0		6	1	1	0	0
Mo	7	12	1	1	1	1		10	13	0	1	0
Mt	1	2	2	1	1	0		2	2	3	0	0
Neb	2	6	0	0	0	0		2	5	0	0	0
Nev	11	1	0	0	0	0		11	2	2	0	0
NH	1	1	2	5	0	0		2	1	4	3	0
NJ	9	3	5	2	2	0		11	3	4	2	1
NM	11	0	0	2	0	0		12	1	0	0	0
NY	16	16	3	3	1	0		20	15	1	3	0
NoC	18	3	2	1	4	1		19	5	3	1	1
NoD	1	2	2	0	0	0		2	1	2	0	0
Ohio	21	9	3	0	8	0		21	9	7	0	3
Ok	2	1	1	1	1	0		3	3	0	0	0
Pa	16	6	4	12	3	0		18	7	4	12	0
RI	3	0	0	0	0	0		3	0	0	0	0
SoC	9	4	0	0	0	0		8	4	0	1	0
SoD	1	0	0	0	0	0		1	0	0	0	0
Tn	14	0	3	1	0	0		14	0	3	1	0
Tex	26	10	15	2	7	0		34	8	12	3	2
Ut	2	2	2	0	1	0		5	3	0	0	0
Vt	0	0	3	0	0	0		0	0	3	0	0
Va	19	6	2	2	1	0		21	5	2	2	0
Wa	13	3	10	0	1	0		13	3	10	0	1
WV	0	5	0	0	0	0		1	4	0	0	0
Wi	13	0	2	1	0	0		15	0	0	1	0
Wy	2	0	0	1	0	0		2	0	0	1	0
TOT	458	197	131	63	58	9		518	203	131	52	18

~	1st BALLOT						2nd BALLOT
STATE	WELD	SHARPE	COLEY	GRAYSON	DEARN		WELD	SHARPE	GRAYSON
Alabama	5	4	2	0	0		6	6	0
Alaska	0	1	3	2	0		0	6	0
Arizona	12	10	2	1	0		12	12	0
Ark.	3	2	0	3	0		4	2	2
Calif.	49	28	10	4	7		49	51	1
Colo.	15	4	3	2	0		16	6	1
Conn.	3	3	2	1	1		2	6	1
Del.	0	0	0	0	2		1	1	0
D.C.	3	0	0	0	0		3	0	0
Florida	29	13	5	4	1		31	22	0
Georgia	12	4	10	4	0		10	20	1
Hawaii	4	1	0	0	0		5	0	0
Idaho	6	1	0	0	0		6	1	0
Illinois	15	4	3	3	0		14	9	1
Indiana	22	7	1	1	0		22	12	0
Iowa	4	4	1	1	0		4	6	0
Kansas	1	2	1	1	1		1	4	0
Ky.	6	3	0	0	0		7	3	0
La.	3	8	1	1	1		2	11	0
Maine	3	0	0	0	0		3	3	0
Md.	7	6	2	2	0		1	10	0
Massa.	8	2	1	1	0		8	3	0
Mich.	15	1	5	5	4		18	6	0
Minn.	6	2	1	1	0		5	3	0
Miss.	0	8	0	0	0		8	0	0
Mo.	8	10	2	2	0		7	16	0
Montana	2	4	0	0	0		1	6	0
Nebraska	1	7	0	0	0		1	7	0
Nevada	10	4	0	0	0		11	3	0
N.H.	1	5	3	1	0		0	10	0
N.J.	10	5	2	1	0		11	7	0
N.M.	10	0	0	0	0		10	0	0
N.Y.	8	30	3	0	0		9	31	0
No. C.	11	6	3	2	3		15	10	0
No. D.	2	0	1	1	0		3	2	0
Ohio	17	5	6	4	4		11	22	0
Okla.	1	5	0	0	0		1	5	0
Pa.	16	9	11	2	0		18	20	0
R.I.	3	0	0	0	0		3	0	0
So. C.	5	6	0	0	0		5	6	0
So. D.	1	0	0	0	0		1	0	0
Tenn.	13	2	0	0	0		14	2	2
Texas	24	27	2	0	2		28	29	0
Utah	5	0	0	0	1		5	2	0
Vt.	0	1	2	0	0		0	3	0
Va.	19	7	1	0	1		18	7	0
Wash.	13	12	0	0	1		14	12	0
W.Va.	0	1	3	0	0		0	5	0
Wisc.	12	0	1	0	0		13	1	0
Wyo.	3	0	0	0	0		4	0	0
TOTAL	426	264	93	48	29		441	409	9

Republican leaders who don’t like Donald Trump are trying to persuade David French to run as an independent. He is an attorney in Columbia, Tennessee, and a writer for National Review.

On May 8, the Liberty Union Party of Vermont, which is on the ballot, nominated Gloria La Riva for President and Eugene Puryear for Vice-President. They are also the nominees of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

On May 15, the American Party of South Carolina, which is on the ballot, nominated Dr. Peter Skewes for President. The vice-presidential candidate has not yet been chosen. Skewes is a veterinarian and a professor at Clemson University. The American Party holds itself out as centrist.

On May 22, Austria held a presidential run-off. Alexander Van der Bellen was elected with 50.3% of the vote. He is the former leader of the Green Party of Austria, and is still a member. His ballot label was "independent".

On May 17, Connecticut Democrats nominated Bonnie Troy for Assembly, 135^th district. She is a member of the Green Party and already had the Green Party nomination for the same seat. Connecticut lets two parties jointly nominate the same candidate, so she will be on the November ballot twice.