Nevada State Senator James Settelmeyer (R-Minden) has introduced SB 122. It would provide that minor parties could not nominate anyone who wasn’t a registered member of that party by December 31 of the year before the election. However, the bill would not apply to newly-qualifying parties.
Nevada already has a similar restriction for parties that nominate by primary. In Nevada, smaller qualified parties nominate by convention, and they would be affected by this bill.
In 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court said in Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut that it would be unconstitutional for a state to tell any party that it may not nominate a non-member. 479 US 208, at page 215.
Richard,
What do federal court cases say about West Virginia’s election code dictating party organization? http://code.wvlegislature.gov/3-1-9/
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1989 in Eu v San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee, 489 US 214, that states cannot dictate to parties how they should be organized. California law forced parties to organize on a county basis, but the plaintiff Libertarian Party wanted to use its own regions, not counties, to comprise the state governing body. The party won the case. Other laws that were struck down forced parties to hold their state conventions in Sacramento, and to rotate the chairmanship between a northerner and a southerner every two years.
Thank you. I have notified my state senators.