On November 21, Rocky De La Fuente sued Michigan’s Secretary of State for excluding him from the 2020 Republican presidential primary ballot. The law says candidates mentioned in the news media go on the ballot automatically. The case is in state court.
The Peace & Freedom Party recently sent a letter to the California Secretary of State, telling him that the party supports having both Gloria La Riva and Howie Hawkins on its March 2020 presidential primary ballot.
Hawkins is also expecting to be on the California Green Party primary ballot. The Peace & Freedom letter points out to the Secretary of State that there is nothing illegal about a candidate appearing on the presidential primary ballot of two parties. In 2016 the same Secretary of State refused to allow Jill Stein to run in the PFP primary, because she was appearing on the Green Party ballot. Stein wanted to run in both primaries.
It is especially odd for any California Secretary of State to disallow anyone from running in the presidential primary of two parties, given that the election code explicitly allows for presidential fusion in the general election. In 2016, Donald J. Trump appeared on the November ballot as the nominee of both the Republican and the American Independent Parties.
On November 21, an amicus curiae brief was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court in De La Fuente v Padilla, 19-524. This is the case over California’s independent presidential petition, which requires almost 200,000 signatures to be collected in 105 days. The Ninth Circuit had upheld the law. Here is the brief. COFOE (the Coalition for Free & Open Elections) paid the printing bill. COFOE appreciates all the contributions that have made this possible.
On November 22, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York criticized leaders of the New York Democratic Party who are working to toughen the definition of a qualified party. See this story.
On November 22, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle, a Reagan appointee, upheld North Carolina’s petition requirements for independent candidates, both for President and for U.S. House. Independent petitions are due on March 3, 2020, for all office. Statewide independents need 71,545 signatures (1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote). U.S. House independents need about 8,000 signatures. Buscemi v Bell, e.d., 7:19cv-164. Here is the 10-page decision.
The decision says, about the March deadline, “North Carolina is constitutionally empowered to regulate the times, places, and manner of elections.” The decision does not mention that in 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Anderson v Celebrezze, 460 US 780, that independent presidential petition deadlines as early as March are unconstitutional. It also doesn’t mention the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Mandel v Bradley, 432 US 173 (1977), that independent candidate petition deadlines for all office are unconstitutionally early if very few independent candidate petitions succeed.
No statewide independent petition in North Carolina has ever succeeded, except for Ross Perot’s 1992 petition, and back then the deadline was June 26.
The decision also does not mention that in 1980, a U.S. District Court in the same district, the Eastern District, invalidated North Carolina’s April petition deadline for independent candidates in Greaves v North Carolina State Board of Elections, 508 F Supp 78.
The decision also does not mention Delaney v Bartlett, 370 F Supp 2d 373 (m.d. 2004), which said that North Carolina could not require statewide independents to collect more signatures than a new party needs. In North Carolina, new parties need 11,778 signatures. The plaintiffs will appeal. The presidential candidate-plaintiff is Kyle Kopitke, an independent presidential candidate who lives in Flint, Michigan. The opinion does say the candidates have standing.
