On September 18, the results of an NPR/PBS/Marist presidential poll were released. This is one of the national polls recognized by the Presidential Debates Commission, and is the first such poll to ask about four candidates. See it here. Scroll down to page 74.
The results: Joe Biden 49%; Donald Trump 41%; Jo Jorgensen 5%; Howie Hawkins 2%; other 1%; undecided 2%. Thanks to Dalton for the link.
On September 10, Joe Rae Perkins, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Oregon, filed a lawsuit in state court to remove almost all the Libertarian Party nominees from the ballot, including Jo Jorgensen. However, on September 15, a Marion County Circuit Judge declined to issue an injunction. Perkins v Clarno, Circuit Court, Marion County, 20CV-31103.
Perkins argues that the Libertarian Party of Oregon is operating under its 2011 bylaws, and she argues those bylaws are not in force. She wants the 2009 bylaws recognized.
This year, the Oregon Libertarian Party held a private primary at its own expense, postally mailing all 19,000 registered Libertarians a ballot, and using the results to determine the identity of the party’s nominees for Congress, partisan state office, and partisan local office. See this story.
The Williamsport, Pennsylvania Sun-Gazette has this story, mentioning that Jo Jorgensen is on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions. This is in response to a Libertarian Party press release sent five days ago. This is the first instance at which a daily newspaper has reported this news.
On September 18, the Texas Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in In re The Green Party of Texas, 20-0708. The 7-page opinion explains why it ordered three Green Party candidates back on the ballot, even though they had not paid a filing fee. The State Court of Appeals had removed them.
The Texas Supreme Court opinion points out that there is no deadline in the law for minor party candidates nominated at a state convention to pay the filing fee. This appears to be a flaw in the law, which was passed in great haste in 2019. So when the State Court of Appeals removed the Greens, there was no legal basis to do so, because theoretically they might still have paid the fee. The Texas Supreme Court says the Secretary of State’s regulation, saying the fee should have been paid when the candidates first indicated an interest in being nominated, is not supported by the law. That deadline is in December of the year before the election.
The Texas Supreme Court also says that if some jurisdictions have already printed ballots with the names of the Green Party nominees, then those ballots must be reprinted. The Opinion says, “We recognize that changes to the ballot at this late point in the process will require extra time and resources to be expended by our local election officials. But a candidate’s access to the ballot is an important value to our democracy. And an added expense is not a sufficient justification to deny these candidates that access.” Thanks to Art DiBianca for the link.
On the evening of September 17, the Alaska Division of Elections asked the State Supreme Court to take jurisdiction of the ballot labels case filed by Democratic U.S. House nominee Alyse Galvin. See this story.
