As already noted, on December 31 (Friday), U.S. District Court Judge Lance E. Walker ordered the Maine Secretary of State to put the Libertarian Party on the 2022 ballot. It has now been almost 3 days later and no general news source in Maine seems to have mentioned that news. The only media covered in “news.google” that has mentioned it is Reason Magazine. Here is the December 31 item by Law Professor Eugene Volokh for Reason.
On December 27, in response to a question, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said he supports restoring the statewide initiative process in his state. See this story. The initiative is in the State Constitution, but early in 2019 the State Supreme Court ruled that it has a fatal flaw. It requires a certain number of signatures from each of the five U.S. House districts, but due to reapportionment, Mississippi has only had four U.S. House districts since 2001.
In 2019, the Iowa legislature moved the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, form August to March. That same year, the Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit against that change.
Both sides asked for summary judgment on March 3, 2021. The magistrate judge who is handling the case has not acted, and it is virtually ten months since those briefs were filed.
California petitions in lieu of filing fee for 2022 only are reduced, under SB 594, which was signed into law on September 27, 2021. However, the petitioning period is shorter than normal, because redistricting was late.
For 2022 only, State Senate and U.S. House candidates need 1,358 signatures instead of 2,000. Assembly candidates need 679 instead of 1,000. However, they are due February 9, little more than a month from now.
Signatures on California in lieu petitions are never wasted. The petitions don’t need to be complete. Every valid signature reduces the amount of the filing fee. If the petition is completed, then no filing fee is required. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.
The Independent Party of West Virginia, which is not ballot-qualified, has changed its name to the “Americans Coming Together Party.”
See its facebook page here. Thanks to Jeff Becker for the link.
