U.S. District Court Judge Victoria Roberts will hear Graveline v Benson, e.d. Mich., 2:18cv-12354, on December 17, Tuesday, at 8:30 a.m. This is the case over the Michigan independent petition requirement for statewide office, 30,000 signatures. Last year the same judge had enjoined the law and put the plaintiff, Doug Graveline, on the November ballot as an independent candidate for Attorney General. The upcoming hearing is to determine the constitutionality of the law.
The New Hampshire Libertarian Party is administering its own presidential primary. The filing was October 30, 2019 through November 15, 2019. Ten candidates filed:
Ken Armstrong, Louisiana
Dan Taxation is Theft Behrman, Nevada
Keenan Wallace Dunham, South Carolina
Erik Gerhardt, Pennsylvania
Jo Jorgensen, South Carolina
Sam Robb, Pennsylvania
Kim Ruff, Arizona
Vermin Supreme, Massachusetts
Arviv Vohra, Maryland
Arlen Lawson Wright, Texas
Newsday, the dominant daily newspaper on Long Island, here carries my letter, opposing the idea that New York’s definition of “political party” should be made more stringent.
Last week Newsday had editorialized in favor of increasing the number of votes needed for a group to become a qualified party, from 50,000 votes for Governor, to either 150,000 or 250,000. The proposal is being considered by the state’s Commission on Public Funding, a group that has the authority to change New York state election laws unless the legislature vetoes the group’s ideas.
On November 18, the Portland, Maine, city council voted unanimously to put a ballot measure on the March 3, 2020 ballot, asking voters if they want to expand ranked choice voting from Mayor, to include City Council and School Board.
On November 19, the Eureka, California, city council voted unanimously to ask the city attorney to draft a proposed charter amendment to use ranked choice voting for elections for city office.
Broome County, New York, elected county officials on November 5, 2019, including a new District Attorney. The incumbent was not running for re-election. There were three candidates running. Two were seeking the Republican nomination, and one was seeking the Democratic nomination. Because New York allows fusion, all three also sought the Libertarian nomination.
The winner of the Republican primary was F. Paul Battisti. In that primary, Battisti defeated Michael Korchak, the chief assistant District Attorney. However, Korchak won the Libertarian nomination, and remained in the general election race, as the Libertarian nominee. He was not the nominee of any other party. Battisti was the nominee of the Republican Party only and was not the nominee of any other party.
The general election race was very close, and the winner was not known until November 19, when all the absentee votes had been counted. Korchak won the election. Here is a National Public Radio story about Korchak, an interview conducted before the election.
Here is a link to the election returns.
