On February 3, Hillary Clinton (through her attorney) agreed that Tulsi Gabbard’s lawsuit doesn’t need to serve her, and that the lawsuit can proceed. Gabbard v Clinton, s.d., N.Y., 1:20cv-558. The lawsuit is for slander.
26
Utah State Senator Dan Thatcher has introduced SB 28. It deletes the ballot language added a few years ago that says when an independent candidate is on the ballot, the ballot must say that the candidate “does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.”
When an independent candidate for the legislature in 2018 was on the ballot, she learned that many voters saws that ballot statement and felt the ballot was saying she was not qualified. She brought a federal lawsuit, which is on hold to see if the legislature this year will repeal that language.
According to this story, the Maine Republican Party is launching a referendum petition against the law that passed last year to use ranked choice voting for president in the 2020 general election, and in future presidential primaries and elections. If the party gets enough signatures, the measure would not be in effect in November 2020. Instead, the voters would vote on whether to retain ranked choice voting for president.
The petition drive would have no effect on using ranked choice voting for congressional elections.
Mark W. Turley is seeking the nomination of the Independent Party of Delaware for U.S. Senate. It is ballot-qualified but in 2018 did not have a single candidate for any partisan race. Assuming the party nominates him, it will be the party’s first congressional candidate since 2012.
On January 31, Alabama State Senator Cam Ward introduced SB 70, to reduce the petition requirement for statewide non-presidential independent candidates, and new or previously unqualified parties, from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5%. The bill also changes the petition deadline from the date of the first primary, to the third Wednesday after the run-off primary. Thanks to Laura Lane for this news.