Melanie McFarland has this article in Salon, on how public awareness of Marianne Williamson has expanded, as a result of her being included in one of the two Democratic presidential debates last month. This shows how an obscure presidential candidate, who is permitted to be included in a debate with the candidates who considered “front-runners”, can benefit. This is true, even though there were ten candidates on stage, and Williamson was given very little air time.
On July 3, the Democratic National Committee filed this list of exhibits in Jacobson v Lee, the case over the order of candidates on the Florida ballot. The list includes the laws of other states, relating to determining the order of candidates on general election ballots. The purpose is to show that other states have laws that are neutral and give every candidate a chance to appear first on the ballot. The state objects to this evidence, saying the laws of other states are irrelevant.
On July 5, U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Walker expedited the lawsuit Jones v DeSantis, n.d., 4:19cv-300. This is the case filed by the ACLU on June 28 against the new law that says ex-felons can’t register to vote if they have any unpaid restitution, court costs, or fines. A status conference will be held on July 19, which will set the dates for the trial and for various briefs. See this story.
Judge Walker also has the case in which the Democratic National Committee challenges the Florida law on order of candidates on the ballot. That case has a trial that starts July 15. Jacobson v Lee, 4:18cv-262.
Congressman Justin Amash was on CNN’s “State of the Union” on July 7. He said he is running for re-election as an independent to the U.S. House. He also said he hasn’t ruled out running for President. Watch this clip, courtesy of the Daily Beast.
The California legislature seems likely to pass SB 696, which makes it illegal for party to have “Independent” or “Independence” in its name. In the history of government-printed ballots, 47 states have at one time had a party on the ballot that used one of those words.
In 1908, William Randolph Hearst supported a party called the Independence Party, which ran Congressman Thomas Hisgen for president. It was on the ballot in almost all states.
In 1967-68, George Wallace formed a new party in most states, and in many states it was called the American Independent Party.
There have been ballot-qualified parties named Independence Party, or Independent Party, in recent decades in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Vermont.
Parties in which the word “Independent” or “Independence” is, or was, part of a two-word party name have been: Alabama Independent Democratic Party (which placed Hubert Humphrey on the 1968 ballot); the Alaskan Independence Party; the Independent American Party in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah; the Independent Democratic Party of Georgia; the Independent Republican Party of Illinois; the Green Independent Party of Maine; the Independent Voters Party of Massachusetts; the People’s Independent Party of Nebraska; and the Virginia Independent Party.
