On January 11, the Maine Green Party asked U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker for the same ballot access relief that he had granted to the Libertarian Party, relative to petitions for candidates to get on primary ballots. See this filing. Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509.
Florida holds a special U.S. House election on January 11 to fill the vacant 20th district seat. There are five candidates on the ballot: a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, and two independents. Here is a link to the election returns on the Secretary of State’s website.
On January 10, New York Assemblymember John Salka introduced A8683. It reduces the number of signatures for statewide independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from 45,000 to 15,000. It also cuts the number of votes for a party to be recognized from 2%, to 50,000. Thanks to Howie Hawkins for this news.
The Maine Beacon has this op-ed, criticizing the Maine Secretary of State for refusing to extend the same relief to the Green Party that a federal court already extended to the Libertarian Party. Thanks to Fairvote for the link. The op-ed is by Sam Pfeifle.
A Missouri initiative to establish a top-four system is circulating. This St. Louis Post-Dispatch article says over $1,000,000 has been contributed by a Virginia group that refuses to disclose its donors.
The Missouri initiative makes it far more difficult for parties to attain or keep qualified status. Currently a party in Missouri is a group that polled at least 2% for any statewide race in either of the last two elections. The initiative changes this, so a party could only remain ballot-qualified if it polled 2% for president. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.
