Alaska Bill, Easing Definition of a Qualified Party, Passes Legislature

Posted on by May 18, 2022
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On May 17, the Alaska House passed SB 161 by a vote of 37-2. It eases the definition of a qualified political party, from a group with registration equal to 3% of the last vote cast (approximately 11,000 members) to exactly 5,000 registered members. Assuming the Governor signs the bill, the immediate effect will be to restore the Libertarian Party’s qualified status. Obviously it will also make it easier for the Green Party to regain its status. The Green Party now has 1,490 registrants, but back in October 2002 it had 4,789.

The two representatives who voted “no” are George Rauscher and Sarah Vance, both Republicans.

Montana Supreme Court Rules Against Electronic Ballot Access Signatures

Posted on by May 17, 2022
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On May 17, the Montana Supreme Court issued an opinion in Meyer v Jacobsen, 2022 Mt 93. The decision holds that the law does not permit an independent candidate to submit electronic signatures. The case had been brought by John Meyer, an independent candidate who tried and failed to get on the ballot in 2020 as an independent candidate for Attorney General.

Alaska Democrats Fear that No Democrat Will be in the Top Four, in Special U.S. House Election

Posted on by May 17, 2022
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This article says that Alaska Democrats worry that in the June11 primary for U.S. House, no Democrat will place in the first four slots. The law, passed by the voters in November 2020 and being used for the first time next month, says the top four primary candidates are the only ones that can get on the general election ballot. Polls are suggesting that Republican Nick Begich and Sarah Palin, and independent Al Gross, will be in the top four. The fourth-place finisher is tough to predict, but independent candidate Santa Claus has a miniscule lead.

Peter Ackerman, Founder of Americans Elect, Dies at Age 75

Posted on by May 17, 2022
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On April 26, 2022, Peter Ackerman died unexpectedly at 75. He was very wealthy and used some of his wealth to found Americans Elect in 2010. It was to be a centrist political party intended to run a presidential candidate in 2012. Because the group didn’t know the identity of its future presidential candidate, Ackerman funded petition drives to put the party on the ballot, in almost all of the states that don’t require a group to have chosen its nominee in advance of petitioning for ballot access.

Americans Elect qualified as a party in 29 states and then held an on-line presidential primary. Any registered voter in the U.S. was free to participate in that primary, if the individual was a registered voter and signed up with Americans Elect. The party rules required the winner to obtain a particular number of votes, and no one who entered the presidential primary received enough votes to qualify. So, Americans Elect did not run anyone for president in 2012, and mostly vanished from state ballots.

Ackerman also funded the lawsuit Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission, hoping to force the FEC to stop the Commission on Presidential Debates from taking corporate money to sponsor debates that were discriminatory. He also helped fund the initiative in Maine to use ranked choice voting. And he was active in fighting authoritarianism around the world. See these tributes. Thanks to Chad Peace for this news.

Idaho Republican Party Sues Bonneville County Republican Party to Enforce Party Rule Against Endorsing Candidates in Republican Primaries

Posted on by May 17, 2022
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On May 12, the Idaho Republican Party sued the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee to stop the county party from endorsing candidates in the May 17 Republican primary. Under party rules, the county party has a right to endorse for county partisan office, but not federal or state office. See this story. On May 13, a state trial court ruled in favor of the state party. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.