For the First Time Since 1990, Arizona Has a Democratic-Republican Monopoly for all Congressional Races

Posted on by September 13, 2020
2

This year, the only candidates on the ballot in Arizona for either House of Congress are Democrats and Republicans. This is the first time since 1990 that this has been true.

The reason there are no Libertarians is the fault of the 2015 bill passed by the legislature, making it virtually impossible for anyone to get on the Libertarian primary ballot. In 2019 the Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of that law, HB 2608.

The reason there are no Greens is that the party is no longer ballot-qualified, due to the 2019 bill moving the deadline for a new party petition to November of the year before the election. That bill, SB 1154, has not yet been tested in court. But according to an unbroken, unanimous string of precedents, petition deadlines for new parties or independent candidates that are in the year before the election are always unconstitutional.

Even before the 2015 and 2019 changes, Arizona ballot access law was severe. The Constitution Party, in its entire history, has never been on the ballot in Arizona.

No independent candidate petitions for president or either house of Congress succeeded in 2020. For 2020 legislative races, there are no minor party candidates, and there is one independent for State House, 6th district.

Idaho Democratic Party Files Lawsuit to Remove Kanye West from Ballot

Posted on by September 12, 2020
10

On September 11, the Idaho Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in Idaho state trial court to remove Kanye West from the ballot. The basis is that he is a registered Republican in his home state of Wyoming. Idaho Democratic Party v Denney, Ada Co., 4th jud. dist.

News stories constantly report that West was removed from the Arizona ballot because he was a registered Republican. This is not true. The Arizona Supreme Court removed him from the Arizona ballot because his presidential elector candidates didn’t fill out campaign finance documents. The confusion comes because the Arizona lower court used the registration as the basis for removing him, but the State Supreme Court did not accept that reason.

In all U.S. history, no one has ever been kept off any ballot for president (primary or general) on the basis of how he or she is registered. John B. Anderson was affiliated with the Republican Party of Illinois all through calendar year 1980 and he was on the ballot as an independent in all 51 jurisdictions. If the theory of the Democratic Party of Idaho is correct, then Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, and Darrell Castle were all wrongly on the Idaho ballot in past years.

In general elections, presidential candidates are not on the ballot in their role as candidates. Instead their names are on the ballot as identifiers for competing slates of electors. The candidates for presidential elector have a right to say whom they are pledged to vote for if they get elected to the electoral college, especially if their presidential candidate meets the constitutional qualifications to be president.