Independent Candidate Qualifies for Governor of Maine

Posted on by May 28, 2022
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According to this story, independent candidate Sam Hunkler has qualified to be on the November 2022 ballot for Governor of Maine.

Given that fact, and other recent developments, such as the success of the Alabama general election petition for the Libertarian Party, and the Arizona primary ballot access success of Libertarian Marc Victor, it is possible that New York will be the only state in the nation with no opponent on the ballot to all the statewide Democratic and Republican nominees in 2022. It is still too early to tell about Kentucky (where the petition deadline is in August) and North Dakota (where the independent candidate petition deadline is in September).

Also, the above statement doesn’t apply to the states in which parties don’t have nominees and which limit the number of candidates who can appear on the general election ballot to just two (California and Washington) or four (Alaska).

Third Circuit Reaffirms its Earlier Action that Postal Ballots in Pennsylvania Are Valid Even if the Voter Forgets to Fill in the Date on the Outer Envelope

Posted on by May 27, 2022
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On May 27, the Third Circuit released another order in Migliori v Lehigh County Board of Elections. This order confirms that the “materiality” part of the federal Voting Rights Act bars Pennsylvania from invalidating postal ballots just because the voter forgot to fill out the date on the outer envelope. The decision notes that all postal ballots are date-stamped when they are received in the elections office. Also the decision notes that there is no law that says a voter’s date must be accurate. So, the conclusion is that ballots should count because the information on the date line is immaterial to determining if the ballot is valid. Here is the decision. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

California Secretary of State Releases List of Declared Write-in Candidates for June 7 Primary

Posted on by May 27, 2022
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On May 27, the California Secretary of State released the list of declared write-in candidates for the June 8 primary, for Congress and partisan state office.

It appears there will only be one or two minor party candidates on the general election ballot this year for any partisan race. There are no races in which there are only two candidates on the primary ballo9t and one of them is a minor party member.

When one combines the list of write-in candidates with the list of candidates who will be on the primary ballot, there is only once race in which it is settled that a minor party candidate will be on the general election ballot, and one other district in which it is somewhat likely. In the 8th Assembly race, Libertarian Thomas Nichols, who filed as a write-in, is one of only two candidates in the primary race, so he will be on the general election ballot. In the 59th Assembly race, there is an independent and a Libertarian who filed as write-ins, and there is only one candidate on the ballot, so the November election will either be between a Republican and an independent, or a Republican and a Libertarian.

California Newspaper Story About Write-ins for Partisan Office in Top-Two Primaries

Posted on by May 27, 2022
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The Orange County Register has this story about write-in candidates in California primaries for top-two offices. It features the race for the 59th Assembly district, where the only candidate whose name is on the June 7 primary ballot is the Republican incumbent. Two write-in candidates have qualified to have their write-ins counted, a Libertarian and an independent. As the story notes, whichever one of them gets the most write-ins will have his name on the ballot in November. The California Constitution says the top two candidates qualify for November, regardless that the person who places second might be a write-in candidate who gets only a handful of votes. The record low vote for a California top-two race in a primary, who placed second, is 3 write-ins received by a Peace & Freedom candidate a few years ago.

The California Secretary of State is expected to announce the list of qualified write-ins by the end of the day on Friday, May 27, for all congressional and legislative elections.

The newspaper story gives an incomplete account of write-in candidates for congress in the general election who have won. There are three write-in winners for Congress from California alone, from the general election: (1) Charles F. Curry, Jr. in 1930, from the 3rd district; (2) William F. Knowland for the 1946 special U.S. Senate election (the two month term); and (3) Ron Packard in 1982 in the 43rd district from Orange and San Diego Counties.