On October 19, the minor party and independent candidate plaintiffs filed this brief in their Texas ballot access case, Miller v Hughs, w.d., 1:19cv-700. The case was filed in 2019 and challenges all the Texas election laws that make it difficult or impossible for minor and new parties, and statewide independent candidates, to get on the ballot.
Law Professor Derek Muller has this essay, pointing out that just because a judicial determination is someday made that Donald Trump is ineligible to run for president in 2024 due to Section Three of the 14th amendment, it doesn’t follow that he will be kept off 2024 ballots.
Section Three of the 14th Amendment says, “No person shall…hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.”
Some scholars have been saying that former President Trump may therefore not be eligible to be president again. But Professor Muller points out that just because someone is ineligible to be president, it doesn’t follow that he or she won’t be allowed on the ballot. In 1892, the Prohibition Party nominee for vice-president, James B. Cranfill, was under age 35, but every state except South Dakota printed his name on government-printed ballots (except for the states that didn’t yet have government-printed ballots). Everyone knew that Cranfill was under-age. He and the Prohibition Party made no secret of his age. But he wasn’t barred from the ballot in any state on those grounds, because back then everyone understood that the true candidates in November are the candidates for presidential elector.
His name was not on the ballot in South Dakota because the entire Prohibition Party ticket was absent from the South Dakota ballot in 1892, because the state officers of the party were sympathetic to Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison, so they didn’t file the paperwork for the Prohibition nominees to be on the ballot.
If Trump is the Republican nominee in 2024, but he has been ruled ineligible under the 14th amendment, section 3, it would be the job of Congress in January to reject the electoral votes for Trump on the grounds that Trump is not eligible. Congress refused to count the electoral votes for Horace Greeley in 1872 on grounds that he was ineligible (because he had died after the November election but before the electors met in December).
On October 20, the U.S. Senate was asked to vote on S2747, the “Freedom to Vote Act”. The lead sponsor is Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. But the bill will not receive a vote today because Republican Senators filibustered it. Here is a description of the bill’s contents.
One wonders why supporters of the bill’s contents don’t break out the various provisions of the bill. A bill to outlaw partisan gerrymandering in U.S. House elections might conceivably pass. Partisan gerrymandering hurts Republicans in some states, just as it hurts Democrats in other states.
One also wonders why supporters of this bill insist on including campaign finance changes that injure minor parties, especially the Green Party. The bill abolishes primary season matching funds for presidential candidates. Many minor parties, including most recently the Green Party, have benefitted from that program.
On October 20, Monmouth Polls released a Virginia gubernatorial election poll. See here; scroll down to question one. It appears that the poll takers did not mention Princess Blanding, who is on the ballot as the Liberation Party nominee. Notwithstanding that, 2% say they favor “another candidate”. It seems obvious that if the poll-takers want to do a good job, they should ask about all three ballot-listed candidates. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
On October 19, the Maryland Libertarian Party held its state convention and nominated David Lashar for Governor. He is the former head of Information Technology for the Maryland Department of Health. See this story.
The Maryland Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified, because it successfully petitioned in 2020, and in Maryland, a party petition puts the party on the ballot for two elections. And even if that weren’t true, it would also be on in 2022 because it polled over 1% for president in 2020. If the party polls over 1% for Governor in 2022, then it will automatically be on in 2024.
The Green Party is also ballot-qualified in Maryland because it also petitioned successfully in 2020.
