U.S. DISTRICT COURT STRIKES DOWN MICHIGAN INDEPENDENT PETITION OF 30,000 SIGNATURES

On December 22, a Sunday, U.S. District Court Judge Victoria A. Roberts, a Clinton appointee, struck down the Michigan statewide independent petition of 30,000 signatures. Graveline v Benson, e.d., 2:18cv-12354. In Michigan, 30,000 signatures is somewhat less than 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. The basis for the decision is that the requirement has existed since 1988 and has only been used twice, by Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2004. The U.S. Supreme Court has said in Storer v Brown and Mandel v Bradley that if an independent candidate petition is almost never used, then it is almost certainly too difficult and therefore unconstitutional.

The order says that until the legislature revises the law, the statewide independent petition will be 12,000 signatures. The basis for 12,000 is that Michigan law says 12,000 signatures are needed for jurisdictions with a population of between 2,000,000 and 4,999,999. When that law was written it was intended to apply to Wayne County partisan office. It happens that Wayne County has lost population since then, so there is no jurisdiction with that range of population in Michigan, but the 12,000 figure is still in the law and offered a simple method for the judge to choose a new temporary requirement.

The state will almost surely appeal. If the Sixth Circuit agrees, then the decision will be helpful in overturning the Tennessee party petition of 56,083 signatures (2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote), a law that has existed since 1972 and has never been successfully used. Both Tennessee and Michigan are in the Sixth Circuit.

The plaintiff-candidate in the Michigan case is Doug Graveline, an independent candidate for Attorney General in 2018.

He won injunctive relief against the 30,000-signature requirement on August 27, 2018, and was ordered onto the ballot. He had only collected 14,157 signatures. The Sixth Circuit approved the injunctive relief by a vote of 2-1. But until now, the Michigan law hadn’t been declared unconstitutional.

The new Minnesota presidential primary law says the party has sole control over which candidates get on the ballot. On December 13, Rocky De La Fuente, who is seeking the Republican nomination, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court against the law. The Republican Party had already said that it would only allow President Donald Trump to get on its ballot. De La Fuente v Simon, A19-1994.

On December 17, the State Supreme Court accepted the case and set an oral argument for January 9, 2020.

The Secretary of State then tried to persuade the Court to handle the case even faster, but on December 19 the Court refused that request. The Secretary said early voting begins January 17 and the entire process might need to be delayed.

De La Fuente is also suing Minnesota in federal court, but that case is moving slower. De La Fuente v Simon, 0:19cv-3000.

The State Supreme Court has invited both major parties to file amicus briefs, and on December 23 the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party said it would do so. It is not known which side the Democratic Party will support.

As reported earlier, in 2019 the Texas legislature passed a law requiring individuals who are seeking the nomination of a ballot-qualified minor party at that party’s state convention to pay a filing fee. The law is not clear, but the Secretary of State interprets it to mean that the fee is due when the individual notifies the party of interest in the nomination. This law affects the Libertarian and Green Parties, both of which are on the ballot. Until 2019, the only candidates who ever paid a Texas filing fee were people running in a primary, which means only Republicans and Democrats ever paid a fee. Even under the new law, independent candidates pay no fee.

On November 25, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman, an Obama appointee, refused to enjoin the new fees. Miller v Hughs, w.d., 1:19cv-700. That lawsuit challenged not only the new filing fees, but all the ballot access restrictions affecting new and previously unqualified parties, and independent candidates. Also on November 25, Judge Pitman refused the state’s request to dismiss the entire lawsuit.

On December 2, in a parallel lawsuit filed by some Libertarians in state court, a state trial court enjoined the fees. Dikeman v Hughs, 11^th judicial district, 2019-76841.

The state appealed that to the State Court of Appeals. On December 20, the three-judge appeals panel stayed the order of the state trial court. It also expedited the case. The state’s brief is due January 6, 2020, and the Libertarian brief is due January 10.

All of the judges in the state court case are Democrats. Texas elects state judges on a partisan basis.

On December 6, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Carney v Adams, 19-309, a Delaware case. The State Constitution says no one can be a judge on the State Supreme Court, the Superior Court, or the Court of Chancery, unless he or she is a member of a party that has registration of at least 5% of the total.

The the U.S. District Court and the Third Circuit had invalidated the law. The state had asked for rehearing before all the Judges of the Third Circuit, and the case was reheard, but again the state lost.

Almost 25% of the voters of Delaware are not registered in the two major parties. In the entire history of registration in Delaware, no party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has ever held 5% of the registration.

There are both federal and state court judges who are registered independents, and even a few who are registered as members of minor parties. Attempts will be made to have some of them file an amicus.

The U.S. Supreme Court has not issued an opinion commenting on independent and/or minor party voters since 2005. Six members of the Court have never written anything about minor party or independent voters since they have been on the Court: John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.

Justices Ruth Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer have written favorably about the rights of independent and minor party voters. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has been on the Court longer than any justice, has always voted against minor parties and independent candidates and voters, and has authored several opinions curtailing their voting rights, Clingman v Beaver, and Washington State Grange v Washington State Republican Party.

On December 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear De La Fuente v Padilla, 19-524. This is the case that challenged California’s independent presidential petition law, requiring almost 200,000 signatures to be collected in 105 days. No one has used that procedure since 1992.

This makes the 55^th ballot access case filed by a minor party or independent candidate that the Court has rejected since 1992. It last accepted such a case, if filed by a minor party or independent candidate, in 1991, Norman v Reed. The November 1, 2019 B.A.N. listed 52 such denials, but that issue erroneously omitted two others, Moore v Hosemann (a Mississippi case rejected May 17, 2010), and Smith v Scholz (an Illinois case rejected April 2, 2018).

Yet another ballot case is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 9, the Arizona Libertarian Party asked the Court to hear Arizona Libertarian Party v Hobbs, 19-757. This is the case that challenges the 2015 Arizona law that made it extremely difficult for a member of the Libertarian Party to get on his or her party’s primary ballot. Since the law has been in effect, no Libertarian has been able to run for Congress or any partisan state office.

The law only applies to parties that have had qualified status for more than four years. It did not apply to the Green Party in either 2016 or 2018, and that party, which has substantially fewer registered voters than the Libertarian Party, was able to easily nominate candidates for any partisan office. However, the Green Party is no longer on the ballot, and won’t be on in 2020 unless it can win a lawsuit against the November 2019 petition deadline.

On December 22, the New York statewide independent candidate petition tripled, from 15,000 signatures, to 45,000 signatures, effective immediately. This happened by action of the Commission on Public Campaign Finance, a body established by the legislature and given the power to amend election laws to help implement public funding.

The rationale for increasing the petition is that if New York has public funding for candidates for state office, the state is obliged to give the funding to anyone on the ballot. This is untrue. New York is free to provide public funding only to candidates who raise a substantial amount of donations privately. New York is even free to discriminate, and make it easier for Republicans and Democrats to get public funding, than other candidates. New York is in the Second Circuit, and the Second Circuit ruled in Green Party of Connecticut v Garfield, 616 F.3d 213 (2010), that states may favor candidates who are seeking the nomination of a large party, relative to a small one.

The Commission also changed the definition of a qualified party, from a group that got 50,000 votes for Governor, to one that got the greater of 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote cast for both president and governor. However, that part doesn’t take effect until just after the November 2020 election. Based on recent past election returns, though, when the new law takes effect, it will remove five qualified parties: Working Families, Green, Libertarian, Independence, and SAM.

Two lawsuits are pending in State Supreme Court, Niagara County, over whether the legislature had the authority to let the Commission re-write the ballot access laws. They are Hurley v Commission, E169547/2019, filed by the Working Families Party; and Jastrzemski v Commission, E169561/2019, by the Conservative Party.

National: on December 16, Rocky De La Fuente sued the Republican National Committee and President Trump for trying to persuade many state Republican Parties not to allow anyone on the Republican presidential primary ballot except Trump. He also cited the instances in which Republican Parties demanded a very large filing fee to put him on the ballot (such as Florida, $25,000) yet did not demand any fee from Trump. The lawsuit is based on the federal RICO law. De La Fuente v Trump, D.C., 1:19cv-3753. As of this writing, the case still hasn’t been assigned to a judge, which is odd.

Georgia: a U.S. District Court will hear oral arguments in De La Fuente v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:19cv-5323, on January 7. This is the lawsuit on the law that lets the Republican Party exclude anyone from its presidential primary ballot that it wishes. Only President Trump is on the ballot.

South Carolina: on December 11, a state trial court issued a ruling in Inglis v Heindel, civ 2019-cp-400-5486, Richland County. The issue was whether the Republican Party broke its own rules when it let the State Executive Committee cancel the presidential primary. The rules say only a state convention can make that decision. The decision said that a state court will not interfere in the internal affairs of a political party, and therefore there will be no primary.

Massachusetts: the initiative to use ranked choice voting for all federal and state office (except president) has enough valid signatures. The legislature must now consider whether to pass the measure.

If it does not, proponents must collect another 13,374 valid signatures and the measure will be on the November 2020 ballot.

Wisconsin: State Senator Mark Miller (D-Monona) and Representative Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) have introduced bills to use ranked choice voting for all elective office. They don’t have bill numbers yet.

As noted in previous issues, the Democratic Party is suing Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas, over state laws that at this time give Republicans the top spot on general election ballots. On November 27, party activists also sued Minnesota. Pavek v Simon, 0:19cv-3000.

The Minnesota law on ballot order, unique in the nation, puts the nominees of the qualified parties in inverse order of the party’s previous vote. The qualified party that polled the lowest vote is listed first, and the party that polled the most votes is listed last (although still above the nominees of unqualified parties, and independent candidates). As a result, unless the lawsuit wins, the Legal Marijuana Now Party nominees will have the top spot on the 2020 ballot, followed by the nominees of the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party. Next will come Republicans, and finally Democrats.

American Samoa is the only U.S. possession in which persons born there are not considered citizens. On December 12, U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires the government to consider American Samoans to be citizens. The case was filed in Utah because the plaintiff, who was born in Samoa, now lives in Utah. Fitisemanu v USA, 1:18cv-36.

On December 13, the judge stayed his opinion while the federal government appeals. So far there is no notice of appeal filed.

Recently, two 2018 election returns books were published. The Federal Election Commission published Federal Elections 2018, which has eletion returns for Congress, both primaries and the general election. It is free and can be obtained by calling 800-424-9530 (select #2).

CQ Press published America Votes 2017-2018. It has election returns for congress and governor, by county. It includes both primaries and general elections. It has 433 pages and includes maps. The lead author is Rhodes Cook. It costs $275.

The chart on page four shows all candidates who will be on presidential primary ballots in the sixteen states in which filing closed during the last 30 days. The December 2019 B.A.N. had carried the same information for the four states in which filing had closed in November 2019. The February 2020 B.A.N. will include the same information for states in which filing closes in January. Maine filing has closed, but Maine is not on the chart in this issue because the challenge period hasn’t ended.

DEMOCRAT

AZ

CA

CO

FL

GA

ID

MN

MO

NC

OK

SC

TN

TX

UT

VT

VA

Michael Bennet

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

~

X

Joe R. Biden

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Michael Bloomberg

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

~

X

X

X

X

X

Nathan Bloxham

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

Cory Booker

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

~

X

Mosie Boyd

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Pete Buttigieg

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Steve Burke

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Julian Castro

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

John K. Delaney

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

~

X

X

X

~

~

~

R. DeLaFuente III

X

X

X

~

~

X

~

X

~

~

~

~

X

X

~

~

Michael Ellinger

X

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Tulsi Gabbard

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Mark S. Greenstein

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

William C. Haas

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Henry Hewes

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Amy Klobuchar

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Rita Krichevsky

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Deval Patrick

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Bernie Sanders

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Joe Sestak

~

X

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Leonard Steinman

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Velma Steinman.

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

Tom Steyer,

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Elizabeth Warren

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Robby Wells

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

~

X

~

~

~

Marianne Williamson

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Andrew Yang

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

REPUBLICAN

~

Robert Ardini

– –

X

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

~

– –

~

~

~

~

– –

Rocky De La Fuente

– –

X

X

X

*

X

*

X

~

X

– –

~

X

~

X

– –

Bob Ely

– –

~

~

~

~

X

~

X

~

X

– –

~

X

~

~

– –

Zoltan Istvan

– –

X

X

~

~

~

~

~

~

X

– –

~

X

~

~

– –

Matthew J. Matern

– –

X

X

~

~

X

~

X

~

X

– –

~

X

~

~

– –

Donald J. Trump

– –

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

– –

X

X

X

X

– –

Joe Walsh

– –

X

X

X

~

X

~

X

X

X

– –

X

X

~

~

– –

Bill Weld

– –

X

X

X

~

X

~

~

X

~

– –

X

X

~

X

– –

LIBERTARIAN

~

Max Abramson

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Ken Armstrong

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Dan Behrman

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Ken Blevens

– –

~

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Keenan Dunham

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

~

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Souraya Faas

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Erik Gerhardt

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Jedidiah Hill

– –

~

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Jacob Hornberger

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

X

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Jo Jorgensen

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Adam Kokesh

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

John McAfee

– –

~

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

James Ogle

– –

~

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Steven A. Richey

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Sam Robb

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

~

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Kim Ruff

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Vermin Supreme

– –

X

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

Arvin Vohra

– –

~

– –

– –

– –

~

– –

~

X

~

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

– –

*means lawsuit pending.

Parties not listed on the chart:

Amer. Indp: Don Blankenship, Phil Collins, Rocky De La Fuente, Charles Kraut, and J.R. Myers.

Peace & Freedom: Howie Hawkins, Gloria La Riva.

Constitution: Ida.: Don Blankenship, Daniel Clyde Cummings, Don J. Grundmann, Charles Kraut, J.R. Myers, and Sheila Tittle. Missouri: Blankenship and Grundmann. North Carolina: Blankenship and Kraut.

Green Party has primaries in California, Missouri, and North Carolina. In California: Howie Hawkins, Dario Hunter, Dennis Lambert, Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry, David Rolde. In Missouri: Hawkins, Hunter, and Rolde. In North Carolina: Hawkins.

State	Requirements		Signatures Collected			Three Types of Deadlines
	Full Party	Cand.	Lib’t	Green	Consti	Full Party	Pres Party	Pres. Ind.
Ala.	51,588	5,000	500	0	0	Mar. 3	Mar. 3	Aug. 13
Alaska	(est) (reg) 8,358	#3,212	*7,257	*1,634	*547	May 4	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Ariz.	31,686	(est) #37,000	already on	*10,100	600	Nv 29 2019	Sep. 4	Sep. 4
Ark.	*10,000	#1,000	already on	0	already on	in court	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Calif.	(es) (reg) 65,000	196,964	already on	already on	*251	Oct 2 2019	July 6	Aug. 7
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $1,000	already on	already on	already on	Jan. 10	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	already on	already on	*0	– –	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Del.	(est.) (reg) 700	(est.) 7,000	already on	already on	*274	Aug. 23	Aug. 25	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #5,000	already on	already on	can’t start	– –	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Florida	132,781	132,781	already on	already on	already on	April 15	July 15	July 15
Georgia	64,354	#7,500	already on	0	0	July 14	July 14	July 14
Hawaii	757	#4,347	already on	already on	*needs 168	Feb. 24	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Idaho	13,809	1,000	already on	1,000	already on	Aug. 31	Aug. 31	Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	June 22	June 22
Indiana	no procedure	#44,935	already on	0	0	– –	June 30	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	0	0	0	– –	Aug. 14	Aug. 14
Kansas	21,112	5,000	already on	2,000	0	June 1	June 1	Aug. 3
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	already on	*0	*0	– –	Sep. 4	Sep. 4
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	174	May 18	Aug. 21	Aug. 21
Maine	(reg) 5,000	#4,000	*350	already on	0	Jan. 2	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Md.	10,000	10,000	800	*4,000	0	Aug. 3	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Mass.	(est) (reg) 45,000	#10,000	already on	already on	244	Feb. 4	Aug. 2	July 28
Mich.	42,506	*12,000	already on	already on	already on	July 16	July 16	July 16
Minn.	129,365	#2,000	0	0	0	May 1	Aug. 18	Aug. 18
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	Feb. 1	Sep. 4	Sep. 4
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	July 27	July 27	July 27
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	in court	0	in court	Aug. 12	Aug. 12
Nebr.	6,980	2,500	already on	0	0	Aug. 3	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Nev.	9,608	9,608	already on	0	already on	June 5	June 5	July 10
N. Hamp.	17,209	#3,000	*0	*0	*0	Aug. 5	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	0	– –	July 27	July 27
N. M.	3,483	3,483	already on	already on	already on	June 25	June 25	June 25
N.Y.	no procedure	*#45,000	already on	already on	can’t start	– –	May 26	May 26
No. Car.	11,778	70,666	already on	already on	already on	May 18	May 18	*March 3
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	already on	0	0	Apr. 10	Aug. 31	Aug. 31
Ohio	44,296	5,000	already on	*5,000	0	July 1	Aug. 5	Aug. 5
Okla.	35,592	#pay $35,000	already on	0	0	Feb. 28	July 15	July 15
Oregon	27,960	17,893	already on	already on	already on	Aug. 25	Aug. 25	Aug. 25
Penn.	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
R.I.	18,758	#1,000	0	0	0	Aug. 3	Sep. 4	Sep. 4
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	May 4	May 8	July 15
So. Dak.	3,393	3,393	already on	0	0	July 1	July 1	Aug. 4
Tenn.	56,083	275	0	0	0	Aug. 5	Aug. 5	Aug. 18
Texas	83,435	79,939	already on	already on	in court	May 25	May 25	May 11
Utah	2,000	1,000	already on	already on	already on	Nv 30 2019	Nv 30 2019	Aug. 17
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	*0	0	12/31/19	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Virginia	no procedure	#5,000	*0	*0	*0	– –	Aug. 21	Aug. 21
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– –	July 25	July 25
West Va.	no procedure	#7,145	already on	already on	0	– –	Aug. 3	Aug. 3
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	*0	*0	already on	April 2	Aug. 2	Aug. 4
Wyo.	4,018	4,018	already on	*0	already on	June 1	June 1	Aug. 25
States On			36	21	15	~

# partisan label permitted.
*change since the last petitioning chart, which was in the August 1, 2019 newsletter.

Below are vote totals for the independent candidates, and also for the only minor parties that ran any nominees in the regularly-scheduled legislative elections of October 12, 2019 and November 5, 2019:

2019 STATE SENATE ELECTIONS

PARTY	Louisiana	Miss.	Virginia
Indp. Party	6,593	– –	– –
Libertarian	8,682	398	11,707
independent	7,922	5,717	93,465

2019 STATE HOUSE ELECTIONS

PARTY	Louisiana	Miss.	N.J.	Virginia
Indp. Party	15,589	– –	– –	– –
Marijuana	– –	– –	2,537	– –
Libertarian	5,097	1,652	568	9,647
independent	8,806	18,286	10,935	24,718

In Mississippi, an independent candidate was elected to the State House. Angela Cockerham, 96^th district, won as an independent with 4,841 votes; her only opponent, a Democrat, received 3,585.

On December 17, West Virginia Delegate S. Marshall Wilson announced that he had changed his registration from Republican to independent. He did not say if he will run for re-election in 2020. No one who was not a Democratic or Republican nominee for West Virginia legislature has won an election since 1906, when a Prohibition Party nominee was elected.

On November 19, Pennsylvania State Senator John Yudichak said he had changed his registration from Democratic to independent. He is not up for re-election until 2022. He represents the 14^th district in the northeast part of the state.

On December 5, California Assemblymember Chad Mayes said he had changed from Republican to independent. He represents parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. He filed to run for re-election. He has two opponents, one Republican and one Democrat.

On November 5, Virginia Delegate Nick Freitas of the 30^th district was re-elected as a write-in candidate. He would have been on the ballot as the Republican nominee, except that he was kept off because of a paperwork error. He received 14,694 write-inss, defeating his Democratic opponent, who had been the only candidate listed on the ballot. She received 11,011 votes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP DECLINES TO RUN IN AMERICAN INDEPENDENT PRIMARY

The American Independent Party has its own presidential primary in California. It asked President Donald Trump to run in that primary, but he declined. In November 2016 Trump had been the nominee of both the Republican Party and the American Independent Party, in California, and both party labels appeared next to his name.

The AIP reached out to Trump through a friend of the party who is also a friend of one of President Trump’s sons.