Republican Party Shrinks its National Convention to Just One Day, in Charlotte on August 24

On July 23, President Donald Trump announced that the Republican Party has cancelled the second half of its national convention, which was to have been in Jacksonville August 25-27. The only national convention will be the meeting of August 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Only six delegates from each state and territory will conduct the business on August 24.

This is the first time that a major party presidential convention has been limited to only one day since 1864, when both major parties held one-day conventions.

New York State Files Brief in Opposition to Ballot Access Relief for U.S. House & State Senate Elections

On July 23, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo filed this brief in opposition to giving ballot access relief for independent candidates for U.S. House and State Senate. Eisen v Cuomo, s.d., 7:20cv-5121. The state only mentions one of the precedents that granted minor party and independent candidates relief, the Illinois case. It does not mention similar decisions in Georgia, Maryland, or Virginia. The brief mostly asserts that it is safe to petition nowadays in New York state.

The case has a hearing on Monday, July 27.

Don Blankenship Files Notice in California Ballot Access Case, Explaining Why Kishore Decision Should Not Control His Own Case

As previously noted, on July 20, a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles refused to give injunctive relief to Joseph Kishore for California ballot access relief. Kishore is the Socialist Equality Party presidential nominee and he wanted to use California’s independent presidential petition, which requires 196,964 signatures to be collected mid-April through early August.

On July 23, Don Blankenship, Constitution Party nominee, who has a parallel case in San Francisco, filed this Supplemental document explaining why the Kishore decision is flawed and why the judge in the northern district should not follow it. The supplemental document lists seven favorable ballot access precedents that the judge in Los Angeles ignored in her opinion.