On August 7, both sides filed briefs in the Georgia Libertarian ballot access case concerning U.S. House petition requirements for independent candidates and the nominees of parties that didn’t poll 20% of the vote for president or governor in the last election.
Here is the Secretary of State’s brief.
The Libertarian Party brief is here.
The Georgia Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit against the Georgia requirements for getting on the ballot for U.S. House in 2017. It is still in U.S. District Court. On August 7, the state filed objections to practically all the witnesses who have filed declarations about petitioning in Georgia. See this document.
On August 6, John Schmitz, an independent candidate for Mayor of Indianapolis, sued to obtain a place on the ballot. Schmitz v Marion County Board of Elections, s.d., 1:19cv-3314. He needed 6,106 valid signatures. He submitted 8,295. The Board rejected his petition. He would have had enough valid signatures, except that election officials disallowed the signatures of people who are clearly registered voters in Indianapolis, but who listed a different address on the petition than on their voter registration form. UPDATE: see this news story.
Here is the Complaint, which cites several federal laws about voting, including the 1965 Voting Rights Act which has often been interpreted to mean that if an elections administrator knows that a particular signer is a registered voter within the relevant jurisdiction, the signature counts even if the address on the petition doesn’t match the address on the voter registration form. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, an Obama appointee.
New York Magazine has this article describing the race for the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party and of the Green Party. The article is by Ed Kilgore.
Two former Constitution Party leaders who have left the Constitution Party have formed a new national party called the Life & Liberty Party. The national chair is J. R. Myers of Alaska, and the vice-chair is Lori Stacey of South Dakota. The Life & Liberty Party recently completed its Arkansas petition for presidential status, and the Arkansas Secretary of State has said it has enough valid signatures. That petition requires 1,000 signatures. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.
