On July 15, Tiffany Bond, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, filed this reply brief in her ballot access lawsuit, Bond v Dunlap, 1:20cv-216. It is worth reading. The case concerns whether Maine should give ballot access relief due to the health crisis. Bond was half-finished with her petition when the crisis began.
This is the first year in which it has been possible for an independent presidential candidate to get on the Oklahoma ballot without a petition. Instead they can qualify with a $35,000 filing fee. On July 15, the deadline, three independent presidential candidates paid their fee and submitted a list of presidential elector candidates. They are Brock Pierce, Kanye West, and Jade Simmons.
Here is the website for Jade Simmons. She lives in Texas. The website says she will only try to get on the ballot in states that don’t permit write-ins for president.
On July 15, Quinnipiac University Polls released a presidential election poll. Respondents were only asked if they would vote for President Trump or Joe Biden, but 3% volunteered that they would vote for someone else, and 2% volunteered that they would not vote for anyone. The other categories are Biden 52%, Trump 37%, and don’t know 6%. Here is the poll. Scroll down to question two. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
On July 15, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney, Jr., an Obama appointee, cut the number of signatures for minor party and independent candidates in Virginia for federal office (there are no state offices up in Virginia in 2020). The presidential petition is now 2,500 signatures. The U.S. Senate petition is now 3,500 signatures. The U.S. House requirement is 350 signatures. Constitution Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, 3:20cv-349. Without this relief, president would have been 5,000; U.S. Senate 10,000; U.S. House 1,000.
Here is the opinion. The relief only extends to the plaintiffs, which are the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and Independent Green Parties and their plaintiff-candidates.
The presidential petition remains the same, August 21. The new deadline for congressional candidates is August 1, at 7 p.m. That is a Saturday. The old deadline was in June. Thanks to Tina Rockett for this news.
On July 13, U.S. District Court Judge Mark A. Kearney amended his opinion of June 30 in Acosta v Wolf, e.d., 2:20cv-2528. This is the ballot access case filed by an independent candidate for U.S. House in Pennsylvania’s Third District. The June 30 order had denied ballot access relief, and had erroneously said the candidate needs 1,000 signatures. The July 13 correction now has the actual requirement, which is 5,752 signatures.
The July 13 opinion says the conclusion still stands, and that the plaintiff should be denied relief. The July 13 order says nothing about the point that the requirement that the plaintiff obtain 5,752 signatures seems to violate the U.S. Supreme Court opinions Illinois State Board of Elections and Norman v Reed. Both opinions said states can’t require more signatures for a district office than for a statewide office. The Pennsylvania statewide rqeuirement is 5,000, which is less than what is needed for U.S. House, 3rd district.
