The American Delta Party, which was formed in a few states in 2016 by Rocky De La Fuente, no longer has enough registered voters in Delaware to be ballot-qualified. Delaware had been the only state in which the party was still on the ballot.
However, it is still possible for it to regain status in time for the 2020 election. Here is a link to the January 2, 2020 data, showing that parties need 715 registered members. American Delta now has 711.
Last month, as already reported, a U.S. District Court struck down Michigan’s requirement that statewide independent candidates need 30,000 signatures. The court said until the legislature acts, the statewide independent petition requirement will be 12,000.
The state’s decision on whether to appeal this decision to the Sixth Circuit is January 21. However, on January 21, the state instead filed a motion asking the judge to clarify her decision. They feel the decision is unclear as to whether the legislature would have the power to set the new petition requirement higher than 12,000.
By asking for a clarification, the state can delay its decision on whether to appeal the case until after the judge responds.
This Los Angeles Times editorial expresses concern that many independent voters who vote by mail won’t understand that they won’t be able to vote for president in the upcoming presidential primary. The editorial says that California ought to follow Colorado’s example. Colorado voters generally vote by mail. Election officials send independent voters a primary ballot for every party that has a primary and which allows independents to vote in their primaries. Of course they are told to only use one ballot.
If California followed this idea, independent voters who vote by mail would receive Democratic, Libertarian, and American Independent presidential primary ballots.
This Austin, Texas newspaper story in the American-Statesman describes Rocky De La Fuente, and his two sons who are all running for various federal offices this year.
There is some analysis of the U.S. Constitution in the article, but the article does not mention the point that the residency requirement for Congress has the words “when elected”. People are elected on election day, so residency in advance of election day is not relevant. See Article I, sec. 2.
Former Mississippi Representative Joseph Warren (D-Mt. Olive) is sponsoring an initiative to make county, justice court judges, and district attorney elections non-partisan. If enacted, the initiative would provide for elections in the general election for those offices, and no party labels would be on the ballot for those offices. If any candidate received a majority, he or she would be elected. Otherwise there would be a run-off after the general election.
Initiative 70, like all Mississippi statewide initiatives at this time, needs 86,183 valid signatures by October 2020.
