On June 11, the South Africa Constitutional Court struck down the nation’s election law, to the extent that the law does not permit individuals to run for office except as nominees of a party. See this story.
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On June 9, proponents of a California statewide initiative filed a state court lawsuit, asking for more time to complete their initiative petition. Their statutory deadline is July 20. Macarro v Padilla, Superior Court, Sacramento County, 34-2020-8003404-CU-WM-GDS. Here is the opening Petition for Writ of Mandate in the lawsuit.
On May 29, Howie Hawkins and Dario Hunter filed a federal lawsuit for ballot access relief against Ohio officials. Hawkins v DeWine, s.d., 2:20cv-2781. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge James L. Graham, a Bush Jr. appointee. Hawkins and Hunter are two candidates seeking the Green Party presidential nomination. Ohio requires 5,000 signatures for independent presidential candidates, due August 5.
Here is the Complaint.
On June 9, North Dakota held open primaries for the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties. North Dakota is the only state which requires primary candidates to poll a specified minimum number of votes in the primary in order to be on the November ballot. Statewide candidates need 300 votes. The Libertarians running for statewide office all received enough votes. The ticket of DuWayne Hendrickson & Joshua Voytek, running as a team for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, received 665 votes in preliminary election returns. For U.S. House, Steven James Peterson received 686.
The vote minimum requirements for legislature are far more severe, and usually require over 100 votes inside that legislative district. For this reason, no minor party candidate for legislature has appeared on the November ballot since 1976, when the American Party managed to meet the vote requirement for a few legislative candidates.
This story says the Republican National Committee will formally announce on June 11 that it will hold part of its national convention in Jacksonville, Florida. But the story also says, near the bottom, that “some party business” will be conducted first in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The essence of a presidential convention is the roll-call vote for president and vice-president. Perhaps the June 11 formal announcement will clarify where that roll-call vote will be held. Thanks to Political Wire for this news.