West Virginia defines a qualified party to be a group that got at least 1% for Governor. Last month, the Independent Party of West Virginia, a new group, tried to get Marshall Wilson on the ballot as a candidate for Governor. Although his petition failed, due mostly to the health crisis, Wilson campaigned as a write-in candidate, and received a number of votes in excess of 1%. The party has asked the Secretary of State to recognize it. The state has not responded yet.
On Tuesday, December 15, the Second Circuit heard oral argument in SAM Party v Cuomo, 20-3047. The three judges on the case are Robert D. Stack (Clinton appointee), Michael H. Park (Trump appointee), and Steven J. Menashi (Trump appointee).
The hearing lasted 30 minutes. Anyone can hear the argument at this link. Choose “archive of audio oral arguments”. The SAM argument is the only case argued on December 15, so it is easy to find the link if one knows that date.
The state made several arguments that are factually incorrect. The attorney for the state said that Maryland is a state that requires a party to poll a certain share of the vote for president in order to retain its party status. This is not correct. In Maryland, a party with a certain registration remains permanently on the ballot, whether it runs for president or not. Furthermore, Maryland has a party petition, and if it is circulated in a presidential year, the party then enjoys qualified status for the next two elections; therefore it need not run for president in order to remain on the ballot.
The attorney for the state also said that a state has an interest in testing the viability of a party every two years, and because there is sometimes no U.S. Senate election in New York (as was the case in 2020), the state must use the vote for president to determine whether a party should remain on the ballot. He said, “It’s the only test available.” In reality, a state can use a registration test, or test of whether the party continues to be organized, or a test of how many nominees for all office a party chooses to run.
On December 10, James R. Adams filed a new federal lawsuit against the Delaware law that requires all judges in the most important three types of court to be registered Republicans or Democrats. Adams v Carney, 1:20cv-1680.
The U.S. Supreme Court a few days had ruled in Adams’ first case that Adams lacked standing, because of various actions or things he had said. This time Adams has done everything he can to show he does have standing. Here is his new complaint.. It shows that he applied for a judicial post in early 2020 (but was rejected). Also it shows that he is again an active member of the bar.
Minnesota’s law on presidential primary ballot access gives the party complete control over who can get on that party’s primary ballot. In 2020 the Minnesota Republican Party decided to let no one on its ballot except President Donald Trump. Rocky De La Fuente, who was also seeking the Republican nomination, sued and lost in the lower courts. He asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal. On December 14, the U.S. Supreme Court asked Minnesota to file a response. This means the Court is somewhat interested in the case. De La Fuente v Simon, 20-612.
Last month, Maine used ranked choice voting for president, the first state ever to do that. Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee, polled slightly over 1.00% in Maine last month. That made Maine his best state, by far. His second highest percentage was Hawaii, with .67%, and no other state was higher than .52%.
One might say that Maine is always supportive of Green Party presidential nominees, and that is true, but not to that extent. In 2016 Maine was Jill Stein’s sixth highest state.
Maine’s ranked choice voting for president doesn’t seem to have helped the Libertarian Party’s nominee Jo Jorgensen as much. Maine was her 13th best state. In 2016, Maine had been Gary Johnson’s 9th best state. It may be that voter fear of “spoiling” is a greater problem for Green-leaning voters than for Libertarian-leaning voters.
The only other minor party candidate on the Maine ballot in 2020 was Rocky De La Fuente of the Alliance Party, who got .14% in Maine, his fifth best state. He was on in 15 states in 2020. It is tough to know if ranked choice voting helped him, because he wasn’t on the ballot in Maine in 2016.
