On September 17, a Suffolk University/USA Today Poll was released for North Carolina. In the presidential race it shows: Biden 46.2%; Trump 42.8%; Jorgensen 4.8%; other .6%. The other candidates on the ballot are Howie Hawkins and Don Blankenship. See this story.
The minor party for for U.S. Senate is even higher. The Constitution and Libertarian Parties have nominees in that race.
On September 17, Alaska Superior Court judge Jennifer Henderson enjoined Alaska from printing its ballots until the controversy over party labels is settled. There will be a hearing on September 18, at 10:30 a.m., to settle the label issue. Here is the 5-page order in Galvin v Fenumiai, 3AN-20-7991.
There are two types of candidates who were hurt when the Alaska Director of Elections arbitrarily ruled recenty that party affiliations of candidates should not be on the ballot. The lawsuit was brought by a Democratic Party nominee who wants her independent affiliation noted on ballots, as it was in 2018 when she was running for the same office, U.S. House. But the Director did even more damage to the nominees of unqualified parties, by removing their party labels and instead printing “petition candidate.”
On September 17, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court removed Howie Hawkins from the ballot, by a vote of 5-2. Here is the majority opinion in In re Nomination Paper of Scroggin, 55 MAP 2020. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
UPDATE: here is the dissent.
Guam has no electoral votes, but it still holds a public election for president. There will be six parties on the Guam presidential ballot: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, American Solidarity, and Prohibition. There is also one independent, Dario Hunter, who has the ballot label “Progressive.”
On September 16, an Idaho state court ruled that Kanye West should remain on the ballot as an independent candidate for president. The judge said that the law only requires candidates who use the independent procedure to “state that such persons are offering themselves as independent candidates.” The decision says that because West signed that statement, he fulfilled the law. The decision says that whether he is registered as a party member is irrelevant. Idaho Democratic Party v Denney, cv-01-20-14470. Here is the 15-page decision.
This decision is a case of first impression. Never before had any presidential candidate been kept off any ballot, primary or general, on the basis of how he or she is registered. Many presidential candidates who have used the independent procedure in Idaho were registered party members in their home state. For example, Jill Stein used the Idaho independent procedure in both 2012 and 2016, yet she was a registered Green in her home state of Massachusetts. So the September 16 decision does conform to Idaho precedent.
