On August 22, the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and America’s Party filed this brief in the Texas ballot access case, Miller v Doe, w.d., 1:19cv-700. The brief is in response to the state’s earlier brief, asking that this case be dismissed without further proceedings. The lawsuit challenges virtually every Texas ballot access requirement that applies to newly-qualifying parties, to parties that are already on the ballot but which nominate by convention, and to independent candidates.
This Daily Beast interview with former U.S. Senator and former Governor Lincoln Chafee says he would be open to being the Libertarian Party presidential nominee.
On August 19, the Maine legislature was called in for a one-day special session, to be held Monday, August 26. Proponents of ranked choice voting hope that on that day, LD 1083 will pass the State Senate. It has already passed the House. It provides for ranked choice voting for president. Maine currently has ranked choice voting for congress, but not president.
Minnesota law requires independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to obtain signatures on a state form that says the signers “do not intend to vote” in the upcoming primary. On August 21, the Minnesota Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit against that language. Libertarian Party of Minnesota v Choi, 0:19cv-2312. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty, a Reagan appointee. Here is the Complaint.
The law is especially senseless in the case of presidential petitions. Minnesota’s next presidential primary will be held on March 3, 2020. The petition for presidential candidates in the general election can only be circulated in the period May through August 18. The 2020 primary is over by then, so the language literally seems to refer to the 2024 presidential primaries, although no one thinks that is what it really means.
The lawsuit asks for relief for petitions for all office, not just president. Petitions for office other than president must be circulated in a two-week period in May, and the Minnesota primary for other office is in August. It seems unreasonable to expect any voter to know in May whether he or she will be voting in the August primary, before the list of candidates running in the August primary is known.
The News Tribune, daily newspaper for Tacoma, Washington, here editorializes against the concept of requiring presidential candidates to reveal their tax returns or be omitted from presidential primary ballots. There is no such bill, but some legislators have said they intend to introduce such a bill next year.
