Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Petitions Validated for Statewide Office in Wisconsin

Posted on by June 16, 2022
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The Green Party is not a ballot-qualified party in Wisconsin. This month, the party successfully placed Sharyl McFarland on the November ballot as a candidate for Secretary of State, and if she gets 1% of the vote, the party will become ballot-qualified again.

The Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party are ballot-qualified in Wisconsin. They each nominate by primary, and candidates for statewide office get on the primary ballot with petitions of 2,000 voters. Any registered voter may sign these primary petitions. The Constitution Party has placed Andrew Zuelke on the party’s primary ballot for Treasurer, and the Libertarian Party has placed Neil Harmon on the Libertarian primary ballot for Secretary of State. They will each win their own party’s primary for those offices by default, and will appear on the November ballot. Each of them also needs to get 1% of the vote in order to preserve their party’s qualified status.

Republicans Challenge Libertarian Congressional Candidates in New Jersey and Wisconsin

Posted on by June 17, 2022
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Recently, Republicans challenged the ballot access petitions of Libertarians running for congress in two states, with differing results.

In Jersey, the challenge knocked Clayton Pajunas off the general election ballot. See this story. He was running for U.S. House, 7th district. That is considered a close contest. Pajunas submitted 72 signatures, and needed 50, but the challenge left him with only 47 valid signatures.

In Wisconsin, where the Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified and nominates by primary, a primary candidate running for U.S. House needs 1,000 signatures to get on a primary ballot. In the U.S. House, 8th district, Jacob VandenPlas submitted 1,200 signatures, and the Elections Commission initially determined he had 1,073 valid. His petition was challenged, but the result of the challenge process was that he had 1,027 valid, so the challenge was defeated.

The 8th district is considered an overwhelmingly safe district for the Republican Party, so it is not clear why there was any motivation to challenge VandenPlas. No Democrat is running.

New York Legislature Passes Bill Banning “Independence” and “Independent” in Party Names

Posted on by June 15, 2022
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On May 25, the New York legislature passed S1851 and A1819, identical bills that prevent any qualified party from having the words “Independence” or “Independent” in their names. The bill does not prevent an independent candidate from having those words as part of his or her ballot label. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.

South Dakota Voters Defeat Ballot Measure That Would Have Required 60% Vote for Many Future Ballot Measures

Posted on by June 14, 2022
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On June 7, South Dakota voters only had one statewide ballot measure on their ballots. It was Amendment C, which would have changed the constitution to provide that future ballot measures that cost more than $10,000,000 in new spending could only pass if at least 60% of the voters voted “yes.” The measure was overwhelmingly defeated; only 33% voted “yes”, and the measure only carried one county.

This result is in stark contrast to the voters of Florida, who several years ago passed a ballot measure to require all future constitutional ballot measures to pass with 60% of the vote.

U.S. District Court Rules Oklahoma Governor May Call a Special Election for U.S. Senate, Even While Seat is Occupied

Posted on by June 14, 2022
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On June 1, U.S. District Court Joe Heaton issued an opinion in Jones v Stitt, w.d., 5:22cv-278. The issue is Oklahoma’s special election for U.S. Senate that the Governor has called for November 7, 2022, for the Class II seat. That seat is not currently empty. But U.S. Senator James Inhofe, who holds the seat, says he will retire in January 2023. The court ruled that Senator Inhofe’s promise to retire in January 2023 means the seat is effectively vacant starting in January 2023, and therefore the Governor is within his rights to call the special election, which will be held November 2022. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

This means that Oklahoma will have two U.S. Senate elections this November.