A three-judge U.S. District Court will hear Tanpiga v Newsom, c.d., 2:25cv-10616, on December 15, Monday, at 9 a.m. in Los Angeles. This is the case filed by opponents of the new California U.S. House districts.
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The Arizona Clean Elections Commission, which was created to administer the state’s public funding program, is complaining about the Secretary of State’s decision to let the No Labels Party change its name to the Arizona Independent Party. See this story. The Commission doesn’t dispute the idea that a party can change its name. But the Commission doesn’t like the party’s new name, and says putting “Independent” in the name of any party will cause voter confusion.
At some time or other, 47 states have allowed parties on the ballot which had “independent” or “independence” as their name, or as part of their name. The Independence Party of 1908 was on the ballot in almost all states, and the American Independent Party was on the ballot in many states in 1968, including Arizona.
The Libertarian Party of Arkansas (LPAR) today submitted 13,238 total signatures to the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office, needing 10,000 valid signatures of registered voters to become ballot qualified in Arkansas for all partisan offices, including Federal, State, and Local offices. The LPAR will need a 75.54% validity rate on the submitted signatures to achieve ballot status, which should occur based on validity testing to date.
The LPAR has been on the ballot in all partisan elections in Arkansas since 2012, but it has had to petition every time to get on the ballot. The sole vote test in Arkansas for a political party to remain on the ballot is 3% for Governor in midterm elections and 3% for President in presidential election years.
The LPAR’s press release states: “It’s about time for the state to revise its election laws to recognize parties beyond the established duopoly,” said Michael Pakko, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Arkansas. “The current system, which requires us to petition every cycle, disrespects the vital contribution we make to the political process and, more importantly, the demonstrable support we have among Arkansas voters.”
It also states: “The LPAR plans to nominate its candidates at a state convention on the weekend of February 21-22, 2026. Nominees must submit their credentials by noon on the date of the preferential primary election, March 3, before proceeding to the November 2026 general election.”
On November 24, Stephen Cloobeck dropped out of the 2026 race for Governor of California. He said he is withdrawing because he supports Eric Swalwell. The move was not a surprise. When Cloobeck had first declared, he had said he hoped Swalwell would join the race.
Maryland Attorney Stephen M. Shapiro, who has been involved fighting partisan gerrymanders for some time, has filed this amicus curiae in the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas redistricting case. It points out that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Rucho v Common Cause decision, which cleared the way for partisan gerrymandering, is in conflict with the Court’s earlier decisions Cook v Gralike and U.S. Term Limits v Thornton. Those two decisions said that states can’t write election laws that tend to determine the outcome of elections. The brief is very creative.
Cook v Gralike struck down Missouri laws that dictated ballot labels that tended to injure certain candidates and help other candidates. U.S. Term Limits v Thornton said states cannot create term limits for members of Congress.