Mark Cuban Again Says it is Possible He Will Run for President as an Independent

Posted on by April 12, 2020
27

On April 12, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, was interviewed by Chris Wallace.  At the very end of the interview Wallace referred to an earlier statement by Cuban that he might possibly run for president as an independent.  Wallace said “the deadline has already passed in some states” and said, “You’re aren’t serious, are you?”

Cuban said “You just never know.  I’m not gonna say ‘no’.  I’m leaving the door open.”  Here is a link to the interview.  The part about running for president is at the very end.

Wallace is mistaken.  Every state has some means for someone running for president outside the major parties to get on the ballot, in the period May through September.  Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court said in Anderson v Celebrezze in 1983 that it violates the First Amendment for any state to have an early deadline for a candidate to file for the general election as a presidential candidate.  John B. Anderson in 1980 didn’t declare as an independent until April 24, but he got on the ballot in every jurisdiction.

In 1924, Robert La Follette didn’t declare as an independent until July 4, and he got on the ballot in every state except Louisiana, and the Louisiana problem had nothing to do with an early deadline.  Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.

Common Sense Party Says it has 20,415 Registered Members

Posted on by April 11, 2020
6

The Common Sense Party is trying to qualify in California.  Its website says it has 20,415 registered members, as of April 11.  Back on February 18, the Secretary of State’s Report of Registration showed the party had 10,859 registered members, so it appears the party is actively working to increase its registration.

If its registration rises to .33% of the state total (not counting “unknown party” registrants) by July 6, 2020, it will be able to place a presidential nominee on the November 2020 ballot.

No one can know exactly how many registrations will be needed by July 6, because the base for the percentage is the number of registered voters (not counting unknown voters) as of that date, which of course, is in the future.  Generally it is not good policy for a ballot access requirement to be based on a future piece of data, because this means the group can’t know what the requirement is, until it is too late to meet it.  But of course the group can estimate.  It is estimating 67,000 or so.

California residents can register on-line, or can change their registration from one party to another on-line, so that makes it possible for the party to be increasing its registration even in the health crisis.  No new party has qualified in California via a registration drive since 1995, when the Natural Law Party and the Reform Party qualified.  Both of them have since lost their qualified status.

Connecticut Secretary of State Hopes All Presidential Primary Candidates Will Withdraw, so June 2 Primary Can be Cancelled

Posted on by April 11, 2020
12

According to this story, Connecticut won’t hold a presidential primary if all the candidates withdraw.  However, so far, Bernie Sanders seems to want to remain on the ballot for that primary.  Also, so far, Elizabeth Warren and Tulsi Gabbard haven’t withdrawn from the Democratic primary either.

Also, Rocky De La Fuente hasn’t withdrawn from the Republican primary.

The non-presidential primary in Connecticut is August 11.

Wisconsin Libertarian Party Asks State for Relief from Petitioning

Posted on by April 11, 2020
5

According to this story, the Wisconsin Libertarian Party has asked the state to suspend petitioning for the general election, or to deem any parties that were ballot-qualified in 2018 to also be ballot-qualified for 2020 as well.

Currently, the only parties that are ballot-qualified in Wisconsin are Democratic, Republican, and Constitution.  The Libertarian and Green Parties went off the ballot in November 2018 because they had no nominees for statewide office who polled as much as 1% of the vote.  Both parties had gubernatorial nominees, but no nominees for any other statewide office.  The gubernatorial election of 2018 was extremely hotly-contested between the two major parties, and the vote was very close, and in conditions like that, the minor party vote is generally smaller than normal.

The Constitution Party survived 2018 because it ran for Attorney General and Treasurer, and received over 1% for both.

New York Daily News Op-Ed to End New York Petition Challenges

Posted on by April 11, 2020
Reply

The New York Daily News has this op-ed by two Democratic Party activists, Christina Das and Max Roland Davidson.  It urges the state of New York to stop petition challenges this year, and deem all petitions to be valid if they on their face they appear valid.  The New York Election Boards already examine petitions to see if they have more than enough signatures to meet the minimum requirement, and seem unsuspicious.