Ksmama Sawant, a leader of Socialist Alternative, appears to have been re-elected to the Seattle city council. The election was November 5, 2019, and not all the ballots are counted yet, so this outcome is not yet certain. See this story. Thanks to Steve Kamp for this news.
On November 5, the Libertarian National Committee filed this reply brief in Libertarian National Committee v Federal Election Commission, 19-234. This is the case over whether the Constitution permits the FEC to prevent parties from receiving large bequests when the estate is probated, so that the party must wait to receive the money over a period of years.
The Court has put this case on its November 22 conference.
The Fourth Circuit will hear Johnston v Lamone, 19-1783, during the last week of January 2020. The exact date hasn’t been set yet. This is the case in which the Maryland Libertarian Party argues that there is no rational reason for it to collect 10,000 signatures on a petition to restore its party status, given that it has 22,000 registered members. The U.S. District Court had ruled against the party, speculating that perhaps the party’s registrants are still registered Libertarian by default and no longer care about the party. There is no evidence in the case to support that idea.
On November 1, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was also the Green Party presidential nominee in 2008, endorsed Adam Kokesh for the Libertarian presidential nomination. See her letter here. Thanks to Michael Acree for the link.
The California Constitution, Article II, sec. 5(a), says, “The legislature shall provide for primary elections for partisan offices, including an open presidential primary whereby the candidates on the ballot are those found by the Secretary of State to be recognized candidates.”
The Independent Voters Project, which supports the top-two system, filed a lawsuit on July 23, 2019, arguing that because the term “open primary” is in the California Constitution in connection with the presidential primary, therefore the current law on presidential primaries (which allows each party to decide whether to let independent voters vote in its presidential primary) violates the California Constitution. The Independent Voters Project thinks “open primary” in this context means the state must print a presidential primary ballot with all presidential primary candidates from all parties on that ballot, and that any voter must be allowed to use that ballot.
The case has a hearing in San Bernardino on November 19 at 8:30 am. It is Boydston v Padilla, civ-ds-1921480.
That part of the California Constitution was added many years ago by the voters, and the Voters Pamphlet for that election shows that “open primary” meant a presidential primary open to all partisan candidates. Before that was added to the California Constitution, presidential candidates needed a severe petition in order to get on a presidential primary ballot.
