Maine Libertarian Party On the Ballot — 9 Comments
Outstanding!
Good news, but keep in mind that this could have happened last year had the registration drive been conducted properly from the beginning.
Great News
Good to hear that. This way, Gary Johnson can pressure Trump from the libertarian right at the same time Jill Stein pressures Hillary from the left in Maine and hopefully almost every other state soon enough. We might be able to take the spoiler theory down a few pegs this year.
Because this whole incident resulted in winning a court decision that says the Maine December 1 2015 deadline for a new party to qualify is almost certainly unconstitutional, it is actually a good thing that the party didn’t finish in 2015. Minor parties and independent candidates frequently make gains in ballot access case law when things go wrong. In 2004, the Ohio Libertarian Party petition for party status was invalid because the wording on its petition was slightly wrong. That resulted in the party suing over the November 2007 Ohio deadline, a case which won in September 2006 and brought about improvements in Ohio ballot access law.
“Under Maine law, the process to form a new political party begins with the registration of at least 5,000 voters in the party,
… followed by the requirement that at least 10,000 registered voters from the new party vote in the next general election.”
… from the article … Is this correct?
10,000 registered LP members have to vote in November … with only 5,000 registered to vote?
If so, the LP needs to register another 15,000, or so, LP voters.
When a party gets listed on Maine voter registration forms, its registration shoots way up, just automatically. The Green Party in Maine only had 2,152 registered voters in Maine in October 2000, but two years later it was 13,272.
Furthermore, there is case law that states must let voters register into unqualified parties. If the Libertarian Party doesn’t have 10,000 registrants who actually vote in November 2016, it would go off the ballot. But according to the precedents, the state would be required to let voters continue to register into the Libertarian Party. And because a new party needs 5,000 registrants, then the LP would spring into qualified status all over again.
Maine is the only state silly enough to ever have two different numbers of registered voters, one to get on and one to stay on. Logically, the number should be the same. Because the legislature will need to re-do the law in 2017 anyway, it is likely this logical flaw will be fixed.
Outstanding!
Good news, but keep in mind that this could have happened last year had the registration drive been conducted properly from the beginning.
Great News
Good to hear that. This way, Gary Johnson can pressure Trump from the libertarian right at the same time Jill Stein pressures Hillary from the left in Maine and hopefully almost every other state soon enough. We might be able to take the spoiler theory down a few pegs this year.
It’s official; we are on the ballot there.
Maine’s SoS just confirmed it-
http://www.wcsh6.com/mb/news/politics/libertarian-party-qualifies-as-an-official-party-in-maine/272019369
Because this whole incident resulted in winning a court decision that says the Maine December 1 2015 deadline for a new party to qualify is almost certainly unconstitutional, it is actually a good thing that the party didn’t finish in 2015. Minor parties and independent candidates frequently make gains in ballot access case law when things go wrong. In 2004, the Ohio Libertarian Party petition for party status was invalid because the wording on its petition was slightly wrong. That resulted in the party suing over the November 2007 Ohio deadline, a case which won in September 2006 and brought about improvements in Ohio ballot access law.
“Under Maine law, the process to form a new political party begins with the registration of at least 5,000 voters in the party,
… followed by the requirement that at least 10,000 registered voters from the new party vote in the next general election.”
… from the article … Is this correct?
10,000 registered LP members have to vote in November … with only 5,000 registered to vote?
If so, the LP needs to register another 15,000, or so, LP voters.
When a party gets listed on Maine voter registration forms, its registration shoots way up, just automatically. The Green Party in Maine only had 2,152 registered voters in Maine in October 2000, but two years later it was 13,272.
Furthermore, there is case law that states must let voters register into unqualified parties. If the Libertarian Party doesn’t have 10,000 registrants who actually vote in November 2016, it would go off the ballot. But according to the precedents, the state would be required to let voters continue to register into the Libertarian Party. And because a new party needs 5,000 registrants, then the LP would spring into qualified status all over again.
Maine is the only state silly enough to ever have two different numbers of registered voters, one to get on and one to stay on. Logically, the number should be the same. Because the legislature will need to re-do the law in 2017 anyway, it is likely this logical flaw will be fixed.
So, are you on the Maine ballot?