The Maine Libertarian Party ballot access case now has a docket number. The case is Baines v Dumlap, 1:19cv-509, assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Lance E. Walker, a Trump appointee. Last year Judge Walker upheld Maine’s ranked choice voting law after the Maine Republican Party sued to overturn it.
Here is the Complaint. It challenges the January deadline to qualify a new party, and the number of signatures that members of new and small qualified parties need to place themselves on the primary ballot. The statewide petition for primary candidates is 2,000 signatures of party members, regardless of how many registered members the party has.
Earlier story 1 Nov 2019.
With ranked choice voting in Maine, what are they afraid of?
Who is “they”?
Voters may rank their choices but the choices they can rank will be censored to a privileged few.
Abolish all ballot access censorship laws.
Maine should eliminate partisan nominations, and eliminate restrictions on who may sign petitions. Maine should also destroy all records it maintains of the political beliefs of its citizens. Candidates would be permitted to self designate.
RCV could be used to determine the two candidates for the general election. This is in total compliance with Maine’s constitution for all offices.
We know, you love Top 2. Stop shoving it down our throats. It’s still a bad idea no matter how many times you say it.
JR is sloooowly catching on —
NO primaries.
Ballot access only via equal nom pets
PR [candidate RCV lists] and AppV – pending Condorcet.
TOTSOP
I thought one of the points for having voters declare a party — when they register to vote — was to decide whether or not a party had enough support for ballot access. It seems strange, to me, to have party registration and a separate petitioning requirement.
It is not how we do things in Minnesota or North Dakota.
PUBLIC party registrations = PURGE lists.
ZERO learned from commie and nazi regimes of death and destruction.
@me,
Read the Maine brief.
Maine Libertarians can with effort get enough persons to register with the party to qualify a presidential candidate who receives about 6 times as many votes. But why would any sane person register as a Libertarian? They can’t vote in a Democratic or Republican primary where it is likely their legislator will be chosen. Without registrants, it is difficult if not possible to qualify, even though the requirements are modest, 25 voters registered as Libertarian for the House. But that might represent almost all the Libertarians in the district (an average of 40 or so). You could go to every address with a Libertarian, but they might have moved, or died, or not be at home. And 40 of 5000 voters might mean several blocks between Libertarians even in an urban district.
Maine does permit a voter to enroll with a party, and sign a party petition. The circulator simply has to turn in the new enrollment cards before he turns in the petition. That is what was done by the sole Libertarian to qualify. He barely reached 25, and one of the enrollments was challenged because it had been misdated (the voter put his birthdate a few days later). Fortunately, he had taken a picture of the application and could also recall the actual signing.
Maine does not use RCV for non-federal general elections. So even if a Libertarian did qualify they would be seen as a spoiler.
Now consider what would happen under my suggestions. The state would quit recording the political beliefs of its citizens – and then telling them because of that they can’t vote in some elections.
Any candidate could qualify by getting enough signatures. Many people will sign if someone asks earnestly.
In the RCV primary an alternative candidate won’t be considered a spoiler. A vote for a Libertarian won’t be consdidered a vote against the Democrat or Republican. It is actually feasible in Maine to campaign door to door for House races. It might not be feasible to use mass media in Portland or other cities, since you will be paying to broadcast to dozens of other districts. In more rural areas, the weekly newspaper would interview the candidates. They want to cover something other than pinecone chucking contests, and cable and the internet and big city dailies cover the state and national news. Maine has very few elective offices.
Groups of individuals could get together and encourage others to run, and to provide support.
Why do you want the government controlling the organization of political parties? Do you want the government organizing churches, communes, selecting your mate?
@MB,
The petition is to get on a partisan primary ballot. Independents can petition directly for the general election ballot.
If you eliminate partisan nominations all candidates get on the ballot by petition and perhaps a fee. It happens in cities all over America.
ok. thanks for the clarifaction.
Minnesota doesnt require voters to declare a party when they register. its not a question in ND either.
Minnesota has primaries for major parties – four today – and petitioning for Independent/minor party candidates.
North Dakota has a unfair primary rule that kills most third parties in leg races. Even when third parties register by petition.
Separate and UN-equal ballot access laws in ALL States for PARTISAN offices ???
olde / new *major* / minor parties and independents = 5 types.
Too many super worthless MORON lawyers and judges to count since 1968 unable to detect EQUAL in 14-1 for EQUAL ballot access test(s) for INDIVIDUAL candidates.
INDIVIDUALS are magically noted in all sorts of other con law subjects – voting, 1 amdt actions, etc.