Rhode Island Lowered Number of Signatures for All Congressional Petitions This Year, for 2020 Only

Posted on by September 13, 2020
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On June 19, 2020, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo signed H7901. It lowers the number of signatures for all petitions (primary and general) for both houses of Congress, for 2020 only. This is old news but BAN had not previously reported it. The bill lowered U.S. Senate petitions from 1,000 to 500. It lowered U.S. House petitions from 500 to 250.

Despite the new lower requirements, for 2020 only, no Republican got on the ballot in U.S. House district one. No minor party candidates got on for any congressional race. Two independents for U.S. House in the First District did get on.

New York Libertarians Have Thirteen U.S. House Nominees on Ballot

Posted on by September 13, 2020
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The New York Libertarian Party has thirteen nominees on the ballot for U.S. House. In the past, the party had never had more than three nominees for U.S. House on the ballot in New York. Of course, 2020 is the first time ever that the New York Libertarian Party has been a ballot-qualified party, so it is far easier for it to run candidates than in the past.

Of the thirteen, eleven are Libertarian Party members who are not also the nominees of any other party. Two of them are also Republican nominees. New York has 27 U.S. House districts.

SAM Party Asks Second Circuit to Expedite its Ballot Access Appeal

Posted on by September 13, 2020
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On September 11, the SAM Party, a ballot-qualified party in New York, asked the Second Circuit to expedite its lawsuit against the new definition of a qualified political party in New York. Here is the brief, which does not a great deal about the merits, but instead focuses on why the case should be expedited.

Because the party has no presidential candidate this year, it is obvious that it will go off the ballot in November 2020 unless it wins judicial relief. The new law, passed and signed April 3, 2020, requires a qualified party to poll the higher of 130,000 votes for president, or 2% of the total presidential vote. Under the old law, there was no vote test for party retention in presidential years.

No Alternative Candidates on Montana Ballot for Any Congressional Race

Posted on by September 14, 2020
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For the first time since 1988, there are no candidates on the ballot in Montana for either House of Congress, other than the Republican and Democratic nominees.

There are no Greens because the party was removed from the ballot by a state court, five months after it had qualified and had its own primary, at which it nominated a candidate for U.S. Senate.

There is no Libertarian on the ballot for U.S. Senate because two of the party’s nominees, in succession, withdrew. Originally Eric Fulton was running, but he withdrew. Then the party persuaded Susan Geise, a former state chair of the Republican Party, to take his place. But she withdrew two months later, and then it was too late to find yet another nominee. She is a County Commissioner in Lewis & Clark County, one of Montana’s most populous counties, and she said the health crisis made her local government duties too pressing for her to run a Senate campaign.

All the Alternative Minnesota Congressional Candidates are from One of the Two Marijuana Parties

Posted on by September 13, 2020
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All of the nominees for either branch of Congress in Minnesota this year, other than the Democratic and Republican nominees, are nominees of one of the two marijuana parties. The Legal Marijuana Now Party has a nominee for U.S. Senate and for three of the eight U.S. House races. The Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis also has a nominee for U.S. Senate, and for four of the eight U.S. House races.

Six of the eight U.S. House races with have a nominee from one of the marijuana parties.

Both of the marijuana parties are qualified, and thus their candidates did not need to collect any signatures. By contrast, all independents, and the nominees of any other parties, would have needed 2,000 signatures for U.S. Senate and 1,000 for U.S. House. No such petitions were completed.