New Mexico Libertarian Party Threatened with a Lawsuit Alleging the Party is not a Major Party

Posted on by March 31, 2021
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According to this story, an individual voter in New Mexico has filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the party is not a major party.

The party polled 7.08% in November 2020 for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals. The candidate, Stephen Curtis, received 62,547 votes. The law says a major party is one in which “any candidate” polled as much as 5% of the total vote cast in the state for President or Governor. In 2020 the total presidential vote was 923,965. Five percent of that number is 46,199, so it seems obvious that the party met the vote test for major party status. The law also requires a major party to have registration of at least one-third of 1%, but the Libertarian Party has .94% of the registration. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.

Nevada Bill to Double Number of Signatures for a New Political Party

Posted on by April 1, 2021
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Nevada State Senator Roberta Lange (D-Las Vegas) has introduced SB 292. It doubles the number of signatures for a new or previously unqualified party to get on the ballot, from 1% of the last U.S. House statewide vote, to 2%. Also it imposes a distribution requirement for all four U.S. House districts.

It also adds a straight-ticket device to the ballot. Nevada has never had a straight-ticket device.

Already Nevada’s party petition is too difficult. No one has used it since 2011, when Americans Elect qualified. In 2016, Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate, was on the ballot in 44 states plus D.C., but she was unable to get on in Nevada.

The bill has a hearing on April 1 in the Senate Legislative Operations & Elections Committee, at 4:00 p.m. Thanks to Janine Hansen for this news.

New York Governor Signs Bill Cutting Signatures by 50% for 2021 Only

Posted on by March 30, 2021
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On March 29, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed A4686. For 2021 only, it cuts the number of signatures for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, by 50%.

There are no statewide offices up in New York in 2021. The biggest offices up in 2021 are the three citywide New York city offices, including Mayor. Those petitions drop from 7,500 to 3,750 signatures. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.