OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL TO EASE VOTE TEST FOR PARTY RETENTION FROM 10% to 2.5%

On April 28, the Oklahoma legislature passed SB 896. It eases the vote for a party to remain on the ballot. The old law says a party that polls under 10% for the office at the top of the ticket (president in presidential years; governor in mid-term years) goes off the ballot. SB 896 lowers the 10% to 2.5%.

The bill had passed the Senate on March 10, by 42-1. Then, on March 31, the House had passed the bill by 69-15, but the House amended the bill. The amendment changed the effective date from January 1, 2017, to November 1, 2016, to make it clear that if the Libertarian Party (the only third party on the ballot this year so far) gets 2.5% for President in 2016, then the party will remain on the ballot for 2018. Because of this amendment, though, the bill had to return to the Senate for another vote,

The Senate passed the bill again on April 28, by 26-14. Apparently some Senators who had voted for the bill in March changed their mind, but fortunately the bill still had enough support to win.

If Governor Mary Fallin signs the bill, the only states with a 10% vote test will be New Jersey and Virginia. There are two states above 10%: Alabama is 20%; Pennsylvania is registration of 15%. All other states are at or below 5%. The median vote test of the 50 states is 2%.

It is rare for a Libertarian presidential nominee to poll as much as 2.5% in any state, but not impossible, especially in the current environment, with so many voters telling pollsters they don’t like any of the likely major party presidential nominees. In 2012 the Libertarian Party got 3.55% for President in New Mexico, 2.93% in Montana, and 2.48% in Alaska.

Assuming the bill ia signed into law, Oklahoma will be the 32^nd state that has made it easier for a party to remain on the ballot in the last 47 years.

On April 26, the Vermont Secretary of State ruled that, in effect, qualified minor parties may have until September, not May, to tell the state who their presidential and vice-presidential candidates are.

The Secretary of State can’t change the law unilaterally, and the law says that qualified minor parties must tell the state who their presidential candiates are by May 26, whereas the major parties need not reveal this until September 14. But the Secretary of State said he will let minor parties submit stand-in candidates by the May deadline, and then if those stand-ins withdraw later, the actual candidates can be substituted.

The Libertarian Party and Liberty Union are the only two qualified minor parties. Libertarians asked for this ruling because their national ticket this year is not chosen until May 29, two days after the deadline.

The Secretary of State will ask the legislature to change the law so that all qualified parties have the same September deadline.

On April 11, Oklahoma SB 1108 was signed into law. It takes the names of presidential elector candidates off the ballot. Only four states still print their names on the ballot: Arizona, Idaho, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Removing electors makes for a more compact ballot.

On April 26, the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties asked a U.S. District Court to put them on the November 2016 Pennsylvaniaballot. The basis for the request is that the existing ballot access laws were invalidated in July 2015, and the legislature hasn’t passed any bill to replace the old law.

A similar request in Ohio in 2008 resulted in the Libertarian and Socialist Parties being placed on the ballot by court order. The old Ohio law had been struck down in September 2006 and the legislature had not replaced it. After the 2008 court order, the Ohio Secretary of State also put the Constitution and Green Parties on the ballot.

One basis for the request for these three particular parties is that they have shown a modicum of support in Pennsylvania. The court filing emphasizes that they have a sizeable number of registered members in Pennsylvania. Another basis is that they have been on the ballot in recent past elections and polled sizeable votes.

On April 19, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Commonwealth Court, and ruled that signatures on petitions are valid, even if the signer had moved within the county and had not re-registered to vote at the new address. In re Nominating Petition of Joseph Vodvarka, J-75-2016. As a result, Joseph Vodvarka was restored to the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. Senate, only one week before the primary.

On April 22, U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte, an Obama appointee, upheld California law that won’t let a candidate for Congress or partisan state office have a party label on the ballot, unless the candidate is a member of a qualified party. Soltysik v Padilla, cd cv-15-7916.

The plaintiffs are two Socialists. Because the Socialist Party is not a qualified party, when they run for partisan office, their ballot label is "Party preference: none." They argued that the state is forcing them to lie. They do have a party preference; they prefer the Socialist Party.

Judge Birotte said the election code defines "party" as a qualified party, and therefore the statement is true. But he ignored a contrary statement by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, which said in Chamness v Bowen, 722 F. 3d 1110 (2013), that requiring candidates who prefer a non-qualified party forces them to "falsely state that they have no party preference." The Chamness case was about whether California could legitimately force independent candidates to be listed on the ballot as "Party preference: none."

The 9^th circuit said in Chamness that "independent" and "party preference: none" mean the same thing, so the policy is not unconstitutional as to independents. But the Chamness decision hinted that the law is unconstitutional as applied to members of unqualified parties. Judge Birotte ought to have addressed the Ninth Circuit’s statement.

He also ignored Supreme Court rulings that say that government must treat all candidates equally, relative to ballot labels. Cook v Gralike, 531 U.S. 510 says, "The adverse labels handicap candidates at the most crucial stage of the election process – the instant before the vote is cast…the labels surely place their targets at a political disadvantage."

Also, Bullock v Carter, 405 U.S. 134 (1972) says it is not reasonable for a state to force candidates who can’t pay a filing fee to run for office without a party label. It is likely the decision will be appealed.

On April 25, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued an order in Maine Libertarian Party v Dunlap, 2:16cv-0002. He hinted that the Maine deadline for a new party to get on the ballot is unconstitutionally early, but he said he is not now ruling on that. But he said he won’t issue an injunction putting the Libertarian Party on the 2016 ballot because that would create "chaos."

Maine requires a newly-qualifying party to have at least 5,000 registered members by December 1 of the year before the election. The Maine Libertarian Party submitted approximately 6,500 registrants by the deadline, but the state invalidated one-third of them, mostly because the applicant’s handwriting wasn’t clear, or because the applicant forgot to fill out one of the blanks. When a registration card needs further processing, the state returns the card to the applicant and lets it be re-done. However, when the Libertarian cards were re-done, the state said they don’t count because they are beyond the deadline.

Judge Woodcock said he couldn’t put the Libertarian Party on the ballot, nor give it more time to get some more registrations (which it has been doing anyway) because the primary is in June and there wouldn’t be time to hold the Libertarian primary.

He seemed not to grasp the idea that in such cases, it is normal for courts to put parties on the ballot and let them nominate by convention. This is the approach the U.S. Supreme Court took in Ohio in 1968, when it invalidated the procedures for new parties, and put the American Independent Party on the ballot.

The Ohio primary was in May that year, and the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t act until September, so the Court let the party nominate presidential electors even though Ohio law required new parties to elect party officers in the primary. Other courts did the same in Arkansas in 1996 (Reform Party); Hawaii 1986 (Libertarian); Nebraska 1976 (Libertarian); Nevada 1986 (Libertarian); Ohio 2008 (Libertarian and Socialist); Ohio 1976 (American Independent); Oklahoma 1984 (Libertarian); and Tennessee 2012 (Constitution and Green).

On April 29, the party asked for reconsideration. There is another hearing in this case on May 10.

Alaska: on April 18, a state court ruled against the Democratic Party. The party wanted a ruling that independent voters may run in Democratic primaries, but the court said that the party lacks standing because it hasn’t yet amended its bylaws to show that policy. Alaska Democratic Party v State, 1-ju-16-533. The party will re-file the case after it changes its bylaws.

Arizona: on April 12, the Libertarian party filed a federal lawsuit against the new law that vastly increases the number of signatures needed for Libertarians to get on a party primary ballot. Arizona Libertarian Party v Reagan, 1:16cv-1019.

California: on April 1, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, Paul Merritt, filed a federal lawsuit against the Secretary of State for deleting the words "registered independent voter" from his ballot statement in the State Voters Handbook. Merritt v Padilla, c.d., SA-cv-16: 606. California sends such a booklet to all registered voters, and candidates are permitted to have a statement in that book. Merritt really is an independent voter, but California law requires him to have "party preference: none" on the ballot, and apparently the Secretary of State feels that gives him the authority to censor the candidate statement as well.

STATE	Votes Cast	Darrell Castle	Scott Copeland	Tom Hoefling	J. R. Myers	Daniel Cummings	Don Grundmann	John Diamond	Jeremy Friedbaum
Alaska	4	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0
Arizona	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
California	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Colorado	15	9	4	0	0	0	0	0	2
Florida	39	20	19	0	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia	6	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Idaho	8	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Illinois	8	3	3	0	2	0	0	0	0
Indiana	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0
Iowa	6	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0
Louisiana	12	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Maryland	7	2	4	0	1	0	0	0	0
Michigan	25	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Minnesota	16	8	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Missouri	18	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nevada	8	4	0	0	2	0	1	0	0
New Jersey	20	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
New Mexico	12	0	7	0	0	3	2	0	0
Ohio	22	0	22	0	0	0	0	0	0
Oklahoma	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Penn.	12	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	0
So. Carolina	10	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
So, Dakota	3	.5	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Tennessee	21	9	0	12	0	0	0	0	0
Texas	3	1.5	1.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Utah	16	9	5	0	0	0	0	1	1
Washington	17	15	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
West Va.	6	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wyoming	13	6	0	0	0	4	0	3	0
TOTAL	341	184	103.5	19	9	9	6	5	4

Candidates seeking the 2016 Constitution Party presidential nomination were: Darrell Castle of Tennessee, Scott Copeland of Texas, Tom Hoefling of Iowa, J. R. Myers of Alaska, Daniel Cummings of Wyoming, Don Grundmann of California, John Diamond of Pennsylvania, and Jeremy Friedbaum of Utah.

There was one abstention from Nevada and one half-vote abstention from South Dakota.

The 21 states not listed did not send any delegates to the convention: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

In 2012, these fifteen states did not send any delegates: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

In 2008, these eleven states had no delegates: Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The party’s national chair, Frank Fluckiger of Utah, was re-elected. He received 40 votes; Randy Stufflebeam, his only opponent, received 28 votes.

The vice-presidential nominee, Scott Bradley of Utah, was nominated without opposition by voice vote. He had been the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in Utah in 2010, and he had polled 5.7%, in a race against both major parties.

The petitioning chart on page four only has room for the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties, but other parties are petitioning as well. The Socialist Workers Party is finished in New Jersey. The Party for Socialism and Liberation is finished in New Mexico. The Legal Marijuana Now Party only needs 800 more signatures in Nebraska.

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	0	Mar. 1	Mar. 1	Aug. 18
Alaska	(reg) 8,399	#3,005	already on	1,030	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	355	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	*500	*1,000	0	– –	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
Del.	(reg) *653	*6,526	already on	*608	*323	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	*400	*50	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	*5,000	*2,600	*100	– –	June 27	June 27
Indiana	no procedure	#26,700	already on	0	0	– –	June 30	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	*100	1,200	0	– –	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	in court	already on	0	Dec 1 2015	Aug. 1	Aug. 1
Md.	10,000	(est.) 38,000	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	800	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	600	already on	June 3	June 3	July 8
N. Hamp.	*14,866	#3,000	0	*275	0	Aug. 10	Aug. 10	Aug. 10
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	*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. 23	Aug. 23
No. Car.	89,366	89,366	already on	10,000	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	*1,000	*300	*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	*7,000	0	*already on	Mar. 29	July 11	Aug. 4
Tenn.	33,816	275	0	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	*1,000	*1,250	0	– –	Aug. 26	Aug. 26
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	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 March 1, 2016 issue.

DEMOCRATS	CA.	CT.	D.C.	MT.	N.J.	N.Y.	ORE.	S.D.
Hillary Clinton, New York	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Rocky De La Fuente, California	X	X	X	~	~	~	~	~
Henry Hewes, New York	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Keith Judd, Texas	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Bernie Sanders, Vermont	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Michael Steinberg, Florida	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Willie Wilson, Illinois	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
REPUBLICANS
Jeb Bush, Florida	~	X	~	X	~	~	X	~
Ben Carson, Florida	X	X	~	~	~	X	X	~
Ted Cruz, Texas	X	X	~	X	X	X	X	X
Jim Gilmore, Virginia	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
John Kasich, Ohio	X	X	~	X	X	X	X	X
Marco Rubio, Florida	~	X	~	X	~	~	X	~
Donald Trump, New York	X	X	~	X	X	X	X	X
GREENS
Darryl Cherney, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
William Kreml, South Carolina	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Kent Mesplay, Texas	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Sedinam Moyowasifa-Curry, Ca.	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Jill Stein, Massachusetts	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
LIBERTARIANS
Marc Allen Feldman, Ohio	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
John David Hale, Kentucky	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Cecil Ince, Missouri	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Gary Johnson, New Mexico	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Steve Kerbel, Colorado	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
John McAfee, Alabama	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Darryl Perry, New Hampshire	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Austin Petersen, Missouri	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Derrick Reid, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Jack Robinson, South Carolina	X	~	~	~	~	~	~
Rhett Smith, Texas	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Joy Waymire, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
PEACE AND FREEDOM
Lynn Sandra Kahn, Maryland	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Gloria LaRiva, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Monica Moorehead, New York	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
AMERICAN INDEPENDENT
Wiley Drake, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Arthur Harris, Maryland	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
James Hedges, Pennsylvania	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Tom Hoefling, Michigan	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
J. R. Myers, Alaska	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Robert Ornelas, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~
Alan Spears, California	X	~	~	~	~	~	~	~

Vote totals for major party candidates, as of April 27, from David Leip’s US Election Atlas (includes caucuses)

DEMOCRATS: Clinton 12,332,108; Sanders 9,181,741; uncommitted 121,234; Martin O’Malley 101,578; Rocky De La Fuente 55,288; other 69,739.

REPUBLICANS: Trump 10,120,706; Cruz 6,917,096; Kasich 3,675,479; Rubio 3,491,488; Carson 732,388; Bush 270,469; uncommitted 81,095; Paul 61,463; Christie 55,898; Huckabee 50,100; Fiorina 37,307; other 41,959.

On April 14,the Federal Election Commission certified that Jill Stein is entitled to primary season matching funds. It appears that she is one of only two individuals who will have received such funds in 2016. The only other person was Martin O’Malley, who sought the Democratic Party nomination but dropped out months ago.

Stein’s first check, for $100,000, has already been sent. She will continue to qualify for more funds between now and early August, when the Green Party holds its national convention. She also received matching funds in 2012, but she didn’t receive any until August 28, 2012.

On April 22, the Socialist Equality Party announced that its national ticket this year is Jerry White for President, and Niles Niemuth for Vice-President. The party has run a ticket in every presidential election starting in 1984, except that it didn’t in 2000. The party name prior to 1996 was Workers League. White meets all the qualifications to be president, but Niemuth is under age 35.

A group of Republicans who are opposed to Donald Trump are trying to persuade Retired General James Norman Mattis to run for President as an independent candidate. Mattis is age 65. He was commander of U.S. Joint Forces between 2007 and 2010, and also NATO Supreme Allied Commander. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, and is considered a scholar. He retired in May 2013 after 44 years of service. So far Mattis has only told the press that he has not even thought about running for President.

On April 12, Tricia Weathers, a registered Libertarian, was elected to the Box Elder, South Dakota city council. This is thought to be the first time any member of a party, other than the Republican and Democratic Parties, has won elective office in South Dakota in 80 years. The election is non-partisan.

Allen Levene, who lives in Georgia, has qualified for the Republican primary ballots for Congress in two states. He is running in the Georgia 14^th district and the Tennessee 3^rd district.

The American Independent Party has been on the California ballot since 1968, and ever since the 1980’s, it has had several hundred thousand registrants. The press in California has barely mentioned the party for 30 years. But on April 17, the Los Angeles Times ran a long story about the party. The story reveals that a survey was done with members of the party, and the vast majority of them were unaware they were a member of that party.