The ballot-qualified Libertarian Party of New Mexico managed to file for two partisan offices this year. Both are for county office in Los Alamos County. See this story. The party says it would have other candidates this year, except that its funds were depleted after defending itself in federal court against the national party’s trademark lawsuit.
On June 12, Florida Republicans filed a lawsuit in state court to remove Addison Liberty Patrick, a Libertarian, who is running for Jacksonville City Council-at-Large. Republican Executive Committee of Duval County v Patrick, Circuit Court, Duval County, 16-2026-CA-004155-AXXX-MA. The lawsuit says he hasn’t been a registered member of the Libertarian Party for the last year.
In response, Patrick argues that the law does not relate to elections like the Jacksonville election. The Jacksonville is really more like a non-partisan election, except that party labels are printed on the ballot showing the candidate’s party membership. UPDATE: the case has a hearing on Wednesday, July 1.
On the evening of June 26, an Alaska state trial court put Daniel J. Sullivan back on the primary ballot as a Republican candidate for U.S. Senator. See this story. There will be an appeal to the State Supreme Court.
On June 12, Florida Representative Paula Stark, a Republican representing the 47th House district, was removed from the August 18 Republican primary ballot for failing to submit a financial disclosure form. She did file the form, but the clerk in the elections office handed the form back instead of keeping it. Stark has filed a state court lawsuit to get back on the ballot. See this story.
On June 26, the Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission removed Michael Walsh, a candidate for Attorney General, from the Republican primary ballot, because it felt he didn’t have 10,000 valid signatures. The party already had not placed anyone for Secretary of State or Auditor on its primary ballot. Walsh says he will appeal the decision.
Massachusetts law on how candidates get on primary ballots is far too harsh. Massachusetts is the only state in which over half of the U.S. House races regularly have only one candidate on the November ballot. The law injures qualified minor parties and Republicans alike, but Republican legislators never introduce bills to ease the petition requirements.
