On December 27, the Maryland Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit against the Maryland law on how parties remain on the ballot. Johnston v Lamone, 1:18cv-3988.
Six states use both a party petition, and also registration data, as alternative means to determine if a party should either get on the ballot or remain on the ballot. But Maryland is the only one of those six in which the number of signatures on the party petition is lower than the number of registrations needed. There is a consensus that a voter’s signature on a party petition only reflects the slightest commitment to that party, but registration membership shows a real commitment by that voter. Therefore, it is utterly irrational for Maryland to require 10,000 signatures on a petition, as applied to a party that has more than 10,000 registered members.
The Maryland Libertarian Party has 22,338 registered members, but it was removed from the ballot last month because it failed to get as much as 1% for Governor, and because its registration is less than 1% of the state total (which would be 40,185 registered members). The Complaint argues that it is absurd for a party with 22,000 registered members to be required to collect 10,000 signatures to get back on the ballot for 2020. It is obvious that at least 10,000 Maryland voters want the party on the ballot.
The complaint also challenges the law that required signatures on a petition to exactly match the form of that voter’s name as shown on voter registration records. If a voter is registered as “Thomas J. Smith” but he signs “Tom Smith”, his signature is invalid, even if the address matches. The Libertarian Party in November 2018 polled 1.00% for U.S. Senate, and 1.88% for US House in the state as a whole. It had nominees in all 8 U.S. House districts and all of them exceeded 1% of the vote. But the votes for U.S. Senate and U.S. House don’t count.
How many UNEQUAL ballot access laws in the States are there ???
mere 50 of 50 ?? — aka 100 percent ???
WHAT minor party has ANY lawyer with ANY brains ???
1. Separate is NOT equal.
2. Each election is NEW.
3. EQUAL ballot access tests.
NONSTOP SCOTUS MORON ops –
since Williams v Rhodes 1968
Maryland should abandon party nominations, and exclusionary partisan primaries.
Individual candidates would qualify with the demonstrated support of 0.1% of the gubernatorial electorate.
For statewide candidates this would be 2305 voters, for US representatives around 300 voters, for senate about 50, and fore delegate around 16.
Support would be based on the demonstrated support at courthouses. Candidates would make appointments, and could organize rallies.
Elections could be dtermined by Top 2, or conditional runoff.
Heather Horst [Libertarian] for President out of Omaha is a regular person, with who our team seeks to make good music, at the national Green and Libertarian Party conventions.
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=63210401
Us men are already doing the heavy lifting while the dividers are wasting your time and everyone’s.
Richard, Thank you. I have forwarded this on to my local West Virginia legislators for proposed changes to ยง3-1-8. “Political party defined; parties or groups that may participate in municipal primary elections.” Seeking a 5000 voter registration threshold for party qualification here. Currently there is NO voter registration access method. Plan to work on the blanket signature option later. First things first. Will keep you posted. Happy New Year! http://code.wvlegislature.gov/3-1-8/
Party registration lists = PURGE lists.
ZERO learned from BAAAAAD olde days before official primaries, secret ballots and Stalin/Hitler regimes.
All single winner election districts may look rigged, but the reason why they bring a two party system, is NOT because the two parties intentionally block all others.
It’s simply the mathmatics, single winner districts bring a two party system
A two-member district (President and Vice President) brings a three party system.
But the LP bosses have been doing it wrong, they blocked the United Coalition in 2012 and they still nominate their POTUS at the convention as a single winner.
The failures are the Libertarian Party bosses, the single winner districts, and the bosses are misleading you again.
The two parties do not intentionally block third parties and independents, that’s the failure of the third parties themselves.
The party bosses brought single winner districts too.
Look in the mirror before you point blame, fix your own voting and demonstrate the teamwork under pure proportional representation, because your negative language is driving away support.
Since you are wrong, you are giving bad advice, and that is potentially wasting precious “fuel and ammo”.
Because the LP bosses are crying over ballot access. Even with ballot access in many areas the bosses can’t win, because they only work with single winner district power grabs, and have no way to collarborate with diverse people outside their own party while they worked within the two-party system themselves.
Now the LP bosses have adopted Approval Voting (AppV) in single winner districts which guaranteed a one party system, and they don’t even know that is harmful.
Since they don’t know what they’re doing, they now cry about the Ds and Rs, but their own “leaders” don’t know they are pushing the one-party system of AppV within their own ranks.
The United Coalition USA has been using pure proportional representation correctly for 23 consecutive years, so we know how difficult this is to learn, it took me 15 years of counting paper ballots to realize that the math brings unity.
So we cannot expect others to learn quickly if it took me 15 years, but I am able to articulate what needs to be done. Start by bringing our opposite gender in to the PPR Electoral College, all men unite, bring our opposite gender first and then our own, with consecutively ranked alternating genders thereafter.
We need a very big team of women and if we collaborate, if 33.33% (plus two votes) does bring and vote for women, then we will bring the first female President or Vice President, and one of the two might be a Libertarian.
JO! wrote —
The party bosses brought single winner districts too.
—
NOT quite.
The English monarch/oligarchs created single winner districts in the 1200s — 700 plus years ago
— carried into Brit-American colonies in 1600s
— carried into 13/14 States in 1776-1786.
Fortunately there is at least SOME Separation of Powers in the USA —
otherwise the USA would be rotted as in most of Europe
— plus near total political rot in most of the rest of the world.
—
LAST HOPE
— PR legis and AppV exec/judic and TOTAL Separation of Powers
— regardless of ALL Stone Age political/math MORONS
— who are brain dead ignorant about REAL Democracy vs monarch/oligarch tyrants.