On May 25, the New York legislature passed A1819, which makes it impossible for any qualified party to have “Independence” or “Independent” as its name, or as part of its name. But the legislature still hasn’t sent the bill to Governor Kathy Hochul. Apparently it is common in New York for the legislature to pass bills and then not send them to the Governor for many months.
On August 23, Florida held primaries. In the U.S. House, First District race, Rebekah Jones won the Democratic primary with 63% of the vote against her lone opponent. Jones had been removed from the ballot after her opponent challenged her, but the State Court of Appeals had put Jones back on the ballot. The issue was the Florida law that requires a candidate in a primary to have been a registered member of that party for the year before filing.
The Moderate Party of New Jersey is in state court, arguing that the state’s ban on fusion violates the State Constitution. The party and the state agree that the case should not be expedited. See this story. It will proceed after this year’s election.
On August 23, the Connecticut Independent Party, which is ballot-qualified for most state and federal offices, held its nominating convention. The apparent result is that the party nominated Rob Hotaling for Governor, instead of the Republican nominee Bob Stefanowski. However, the process is contested and will result in a lawsuit. See this story.
The Independent Party of Connecticut nominated its own member for Governor in 2010, but it nominated the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 2014 and 2018. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.
Alaska held its top-four primary on August 16. For U.S. House, Republican Tara Sweeney finished fourth with 3.71% of the vote, thus entitling her to appear on the November ballot. But on August 23, she withdrew. Because she withdrew as early as she did, the law says the fifth-place finisher can take her place on the November ballot. Chris Bye, a Libertarian, had finished fifth with .63% of the vote, so he can run in November. See this story.
The other three candidates are two Republicans (Sarah Palin and Nick Begich) and Democrat Mary Peltola. Thanks to J. R. Myers for this news.
