Briefs Filed in Second Circuit in Lawsuit Against the May Petition Deadline for New York Independent Candidates

On September 10, the voters who support letting Mayor Byron Brown on the November 2021 ballot for Mayor of Buffalo filed two briefs in the Second Circuit. This brief answers the arguments of Democratic nominee India Walton, who hopes to persuade the Second Circuit to remove Brown from the ballot.

This brief responds to the arguments of the Erie County Board of Elections.

Although the two briefs are similar, and sometimes identical, they differ in some places because India Walton’s attorneys made some arguments that the Board of Elections didn’t make, and vice versa.

New California Registration Tally Shows Substantial Growth for Common Sense Party

On September 10, the California Secretary of State released new voter registration data. All of the six qualified parties except the Republican Party gained, compared to the last tally. The number of independent voters declined. However, all those changes were small. The most interesting result was the increase in Common Sense Party registration. The Common Sense Party is not ballot-qualified but is working hard to reach enough registrations to qualify. The requirement is constantly changing, but currently is 72,403 registrants.

The Common Sense Party has 17,322 registrants, as of the tally date of August 30. In the last tally, as of July 16, it had 11,965.

For the qualified parties, the percentages are: Democratic 46.54%; Republican 24.02%; American Independent 3.24%; Libertarian .97%; Peace & Freedom .501%; Green .401%; independent, miscellaneous and unknown 24.31%.

At the July 16, 202l tally, the percentages were: Democratic 46.49%; Republican 24.05%; American Independent 3.22%; Libertarian .96%; Peace & Freedom .498%; Green .399%; independent, miscellaneous and unknown 24.38%.

Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s new tally.

Upstate Jobs Party Wins Campaign Finance Lawsuit Against New York

On September 8, U.S. District Court Judge Glenn T. Suddaby, a Bush Jr. appointee, struck down a New York state campaign finance law that lets qualified parties give more money to their nominees than unqualified parties may give. Upstate Jobs Party v Kosinski, n.d., 6:18cv-459. Here is the 70-page Opinion. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.

The Upstate Jobs Party is active in upstate New York, and has had several nominees during the last five years, but it has never been a qualified party. It has never run a candidate for statewide office, so under the narrow definition of a qualified party in New York, no matter how much support it has, it can never be a qualified party until it does decide to run statewide candidates.