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.

James Craig, a Republican Candidate for Michigan Governor, Will Sue to Regain Spot on Primary Ballot

Posted on by May 26, 2022
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On May 26, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers voted 2-2 to keep five Republican candidates for Governor off the August primary ballot. One of the candidates, James Craig, who had been considered a front-runner, then said he will sue to get back on the ballot. See this story. Statewide primary candidates in Michigan need 15,000 signatures. The five gubernatorial candidates who were removed all had petitions that appeared fraudulent just from their appearance, so no one actually checked the validity of each signature.

New York State Trial Court That Invalidated U.S. House Districts Refuses to Extend Independent Petitioning Deadline

Posted on by May 26, 2022
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On May 20, the same New York state trial court judge who first invalidated the U.S. House district boundaries refused to extend the petitioning deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Harkenrider v Hochul, Steuben County Supreme Court E2022-0116.

Here is the four-page Order, which fails to mention any of the precedents from other states that when the normal petitioning period is shortened by late redistricting, states must either extend the deadline or cut the number of signatures.

The new U.S. District Court boundaries were not released until late on May 20, and the petition deadline is May 31. The statewide petitions must have at least 500 signatures from each of half of the U.S. House districts.