Libertarian Party Petitioning in 2019 So Far Is Less than in 2015 and 2011

The Libertarian Party has been placing its presidential nominee on the ballot in all states, or almost all states, ever since 1988. In order to achieve this, the party has traditionally done a considerable amount of petitioning in the odd year before the presidential election. However, so far, in 2019, the party’s petitioning efforts have been smaller than in 2015 and 2011.

In 2011, by mid-September, the party had finished its Arkansas and Maryland petition drives, and was well on the way with its New Hampshire party petition.

In 2015, by mid-September, the party had finished its Arkansas drive, and was mostly finished with its Maine registration drive. It had also made a significant start on its Oklahoma and South Dakota petitions.

In 2019, so far, the party has finished its Arkansas drive, and is virtually finished with its North Dakota drive. But it has not made significant progress on other drives. Maryland has a petition drive using only unpaid volunteers. Maine has a registration drive using only unpaid volunteers. The party could be doing its Alaska registration drive, but it is not. As to New Hampshire, in the years since 2011, the legislature has made it illegal for a party petition to be circulated in the odd year before an election year, so that explains why no New Hampshire petitioning is occurring in 2019.

California Secretary of State Intervenes to Prevent Mission Viejo From Using Cumulative Voting

Mission Viejo, a California city in Orange County, had decided to use Cumulative Voting to elect all five of its city councilmembers in the 2020 election. However, on September 18, the California Secretary of state ruled that Cumulative Voting is not legal in California for general law cities.

Under Cumulative Voting, if there are five seats to be filled, a voter has five votes, but he or she can spread them around so as to give two votes to one candidate, and three votes to another candidate, if the voter votes for only two candidates. The voter can even give all five votes to a single candidate.

No city in California has ever used Cumulative Voting.

Scholarly Paper on Presidential Tax Returns and Ballot Access Restrictions

Law Professor Derek T. Muller has published a scholarly paper about presidential tax returns and various laws and proposals to force presidential candidates to reveal them. Here is a link to the summary. The summary page has a link to the paper itself.

The paper has the complete history of which presidential candidates have released their returns in the past, and when in the cycle they have done so. The paper reveals that “tax return” is a surprisingly imprecise term.

Montana Case Challenging Ban on Out-of-State Circulators, and Per-Signature Ban, Moves Forward

A lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Montana, challenging the state’s ban on out-of-state circulators, and the state’s ban on paying circulators on a per-signature basis (for initiatives) was filed on May 9, 2018. After extensive discovery lasting many months, the case is finally moving to a decision. The briefs for summary judgment on each side are due October 4, 2019. The case is before U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell, a Reagan appointee.