Utah Bill, Improving Ballot Label for Independent Candidates, Passes Utah Legislature

Posted on by March 4, 2020
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On February 26, Utah SB 28 passed the legislature. No one voted against it in either house of the legislature. It deletes the law requiring that independent candidates have a ballot label saying the candidate “does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.” Instead, assuming the bill is signed, in the future, the label will simply be “unaffilated.”

The only independent candidate for any federal or state office on the Utah ballot in 2018, Marsha Holland, discovered after the election that many voters were confused by the label, and interpreted the label to mean that she was “unqualified” for the office. She filed a federal lawsuit. The state and she agreed to suspend the lawsuit until the legislature was given a chance to delete the old label. Assuming the Governor signs the bill, there will be no need for a judicial ruling.

Fourth Circuit Upholds Maryland’s Requirement on How a Party Remains on Ballot

Posted on by March 4, 2020
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On February 3, the Fourth Circuit upheld Maryland’s law on how a party remains on the ballot. Johnston v Lamone, 19-1783. The Libertarian Party argued that there is no state interest in requiring it to submit 10,000 signatures to get back on the ballot, given that it had approximately 22,000 registered members when the lawsuit was filed shortly after the November 2018 election. The court avoided this subject, and merely said that it is constitutional to require a higher standard for parties to remain on the ballot, than to get on in the first place.

The opinion will not be published, and therefore sets no precedent.

On the other issue, whether it is unconstitutional to require petition signers to list their name exactly as registered, the decision says that issue is not yet ripe, and that if it is a problem exists with petition validity after the Libertarian Party submits its 2020 party petition, then a new lawsuit could be filed.

Link to North Carolina Presidential Primary Election Returns for Five Qualified Parties

Posted on by March 4, 2020
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Here are the unofficial North Carolina presidential primary returns for all five qualified parties.

In the Green primary, Howie Hawkins defeated the only other choice, “no preference.”

In the Libertarian and Constitution Party primaries, “no preference” received the most votes. Among the listed candidates, in the Libertarian primary, Jacob Hornberger received more votes than any other candidate. In the Constitution Party primary, Don Blankenship received the most votes of any candidate.