Arizona Appears to Ignore Libertarian Party Ballot Access Cert Petition

Posted on by January 14, 2020
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The Arizona Libertarian Party last month asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its ballot access case, Libertarian Party of Arizona v Hobbs, 19-757. The U.S. Supreme Court then set a January 13 for the state to respond, if it wishes to.

Normally, when an appellee in the U.S. Supreme Court is notified that the other side has filed a cert petition, the appellee either responds by the deadline, or send a letter saying it doesn’t wish to respond. But the deadline for Arizona’s response has now passed, and the state has not even bothered to respond at all. It has not notified the court that it doesn’t wish to respond; it has simply done nothing.

The next step will be for the U.S. Supreme Court to set a date to consider the case at conference. It is possible the Court will also ask Arizona to respond. If the Court doesn’t ask for a response, there is almost no chance that it will accept the case.

Vermont Progressives Will Have First Gubernatorial Campaign Since 2000

Posted on by January 14, 2020
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David Zuckerman, a prominent member of the Progressive Party of Vermont, recently said he will run for Governor in 2020. He will be the first Progressive Party nominee for Governor since 2000. The party has existed since 1999. Zuckerman will announce formally on Monday, January 20. See this story.

In 2008, Anthony Pollina, who was and is a member of the Progressive Party, did run for Governor, but he ran as an independent, not as a Progressive.

Zuckerman was elected Lieutenant Governor in 2016 and re-elected in 2018. He was also the nominee of the Democratic Party, but his ballot label has always been “Progressive/Democratic”. In Vermont, the party listed first indicates the party of membership. Vermont doesn’t have registration by party. It does have aggregated fusion (this means fusion is permitted, but there is only one square on the ballot for each candidate).

Currently, the Governor of Vermont is a Republican, Phil Scott. Scott is running for re-election. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the link.

Presidential Primary Filing Closes in Kentucky

Posted on by January 18, 2020
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The Kentucky deadline for presidential candidates to file for a presidential primary was January 10. Candidates get on the ballot by paying a filing fee and meeting one of these three requirements: (1) qualified for primary season matching funds; (2) already on the presidential primary of 20 other states; (3) submitting 5,000 signatures. Thanks to Jim Riley for this addition.

The Democratic ballot will list Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang (13 names).

The only name on the Republican ballot is President Donald Trump. See the list here.

Kentucky requires the physical home address for this list, and that address is included for each candidate.

Indiana Ballot Access Bill Introduced

Posted on by January 13, 2020
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Indiana State Senator Greg Walker has again introduced his ballot access bill. It lowers the vote test from 2% of the Secretary of State’s vote, to one-half of 1%. It lowers the statewide petition for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from 2% of the Secretary of State’s vote, to exactly 4,500 signatures, with 500 signatures from each of the 9 U.S. House districts.

Before 1987, the vote test was one-half of 1% and the statewide petition was also one-half of 1% of the last Secretary of State’s vote.

Currently Indiana requires more signatures for a presidential candidate running in the general election, as a percentage of that state’s last presidential vote, than any other state, when the states are compared using the easiest method in that state.