Some Arizona Voters Sue for a Special U.S. Senate Election to Fill John McCain’s Seat

Posted on by December 1, 2018
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U.S. Senator John McCain died on August 25, 2018. On November 28, some Arizona voters filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that Arizona must hold a special election to fill the remainder of his seat before November 2020. The McCain seat would normally have been up for an election in 2022. The Arizona government believes it is constitutional to hold the first special election for the McCain seat in November 2020.

The case is Tedards v Ducey, 2:18cv-4241. Here is the Complaint. The lawsuit’s in-state attorney is Michael Kielsky, former chair of the Arizona Libertarian Party. The case will not be easy to win, because the federal courts in New York ruled in the past that it does not violate the Constitution for New York to have waited to fill U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy’s seat until November 1970. Kennedy died in June 1968.

Shawn O’Hara, Leader of the Mississippi Reform Party, Dies

Posted on by December 1, 2018
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Shawn O’Hara, who has led the Mississippi Reform Party for over a decade, has died at the age of 60. The Mississippi Reform Party has been the only state unit of the Reform Party that has never missed running candidates in every federal and state election since the party was founded. O’Hara himself was the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate this year. He was the party’s candidate recruiter, and it always ran candidates for U.S. House in all elections. He also recruited many candidates for Mississippi state office, in the odd years when Mississippi holds those elections.

He was a witness in the Florida state court litigation in 2004, over whether Ralph Nader should remain on the Florida ballot as the Reform Party’s presidential nominee. The issue was whether the Reform Party was a bona fide political party entitled to be recognized under Florida’s ballot access laws. Nader and the Reform Party won that lawsuit. O’Hara was one of the party’s few witnesses, and he testified about its national convention, which the Democratic Party had argued was not a bona fide national convention. See this story about O’Hara. He was found dead on November 20 in his home, but the exact date of death is not known.

New Mexico Legislator Will Introduce Bill Lowering Independent Candidate Petition Requirement

Posted on by December 1, 2018
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New Mexico state representative William Pratt will introduce a bill in early 2019 to lower the petition requirement for independent candidates. New Mexico has the nation’s most severe independent presidential petition requirement, 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. New Mexico is the only state with an independent presidential petition requirement in excess of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote.

Pratt was elected last month as a Democrat in the 27th house district. The district had elected Republicans ever since it was created in 2012, until Pratt won in November 2018 with 50.6% of the vote against his Republican opponent. Pratt is a retired physician who represents part of Albuquerque. In 2014 he was an independent candidate for the same seat, when his only opponent, the Republican, defeated him 60.6%-39.4%. Thanks to Bob Perls for this news.

U.S. Supreme Court Sets Conference Date for Utah Republican Case

Posted on by December 1, 2018
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The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Republican Party of Utah v Cox on Friday, January 4, 2019. This is the case in which the party argues that the First Amendment’s freedom of association clause allows the party to decide for itself how to nominate candidates. Any news from the conference will not be revealed until Monday, January 7, at the earliest.

It will be interesting to see whether the Court asks the state to respond in advance of the conference date. If the Court doesn’t ask for a response before the conference date, it is a virtual certainty that the Court will reject the case.

Jill Stein’s Pennsylvania Recount Lawsuit Results in Settlement Eliminating Vote-Counting Machines with No Paper Trail

Posted on by December 1, 2018
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Pennsylvania state officials have settled the lawsuit Jill Stein v Cortes, e.d., 2:16cv-6287, so that the state will give up using vote-counting machines that don’t have a paper trail. The settlement was approved on November 29 by the U.S. District Court that had been handling the case. The only two plaintiffs in this case have been Stein, Green Party presidential nominee in 2016, and a Pennsylvania voter, Randall Reitz.

This is the same lawsuit in which Stein also challenged the Pennsylvania laws that made it virtually impossible for her to obtain a recount of the Pennsylvania election results in November 2016. That part of the case was dropped earlier this year. Pennsylvania recount law requires a notarized petition of three voters inside each precinct for which a recount is sought. This is extremely difficult for a statewide recount request.

Until this settlement, 72% of Pennsylvania voters live in counties with no paper trail. Some counties did have a paper trail. Each county decides for itself which kinds of machine to use.

Here is the Complaint which Stein filed December 5, 2016, to initiate the lawsuit. The U.S. District Court will keep jurisdiction of the case to make sure the state complies with the settlement.