See the Tennessee Ballot, with the Largest Number of Candidates for a Statewide Office in a Regularly-Scheduled Election in U.S. History

Posted on by November 4, 2018
25

This year the Tennessee November ballot has 28 candidates for Governor. There is one Republican, one Democrat, and 26 with the label “independent.” This is the largest number of candidates ever printed on a U.S. general election ballot for a statewide office, in a regularly-scheduled election. See the ballot here. The first page, the second page, and the third page, have nothing but gubernatorial candidates.

The chief reason there are so many is that the Tennessee Libertarian Party wanted to publicize how silly the state’s ballot access laws are. The state only requires 25 signatures for an independent candidate, but 33,844 signatures for a newly-qualifying party. So the party qualified 15 Libertarians to run as independents for Governor. There is also a Green Party candidate who qualified as an independent, and the remaining 10 are actual independents. The Green is Yvonne Neubert. The Libertarians are Sherry Clark, Justin Cornett, Gabriel Fancher, Sean Fleming, William Helmstetter, Cory King, Matthew Koch, Alfred Rapoza, Heather Scott, George Smith, Jeremy Stephenson, Tracy Tisdale, Mike Toews, Vinnie Vinyard, and Jaron Weidner.

Utah Independent Candidate Files Federal Lawsuit Against New Law that Says Independent Candidates Are “Not Qualified”

Posted on by November 3, 2018
9

In 2016, the Utah legislature amended the election law to require that independent candidates must have this message underneath their names on the ballot: “This candidate is not affiliated with, or does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.”

There is only one independent candidate for any federal or state office on the Utah ballot this year. She is Marsha Holland, running for State House, district 73. She is the only opponent of the incumbent Republican. She has raised more money than her opponent. On November 2, she filed a federal lawsuit against the law requiring that ballot label for independent candidates. She does not ask for injunctive relief, but she says she intends to run in 2020 as well, and she asks that the label be declared unconstitutional. Here is her six-page Complaint. Holland v Cox, 4:18cv-74. The case is assigned to Judge David Nuffer, an Obama appointee.

Her complaint says that she has learned from multiple sources that when voters see that label, they believe it means it is saying she is not qualified to be elected. Here is a news story about her lawsuit, showing a picture of the ballot.

California Independent Presidential Petition in 2020 will be 196,964, Unless Lawsuit Wins

Posted on by November 3, 2018
6

The California independent presidential petition in 2020 will be 196,964 valid signatures, to be collected in 105 days, unless the Ninth Circuit strikes down the law in De La Fuente v Padilla, 17-56668. The requirement is 1% of the number of registered voters as of the close of registration for the November 2018 election.

No other state has ever required so many signatures for an independent presidential candidate in U.S. history. However, before 1969, Ohio had no procedures for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot.

Eleventh Circuit Refuses to Disturb Lower Court Ruling on Absentee Ballot Signatures

Posted on by May 3, 2020
3

On November 2, the Eleventh Circuit refused to disturb the earlier ruling of a U.S. District Court, concerning signatures on absentee ballot applications, and returned absentee ballots. Georgia Muslin Voter Project v Kemp, 18-14502. The case involved situations in which election officials receive either a request for an absentee ballot, or a completed mail ballot, and they feel the signature on the envelope doesn’t match the signature on the voter registration form. The U.S. District Court had ruled that when the election official feels the signatures don’t match, the official must promptly notify the voter and give the voter a chance to prove the signatures are from the same person.

The three judges are Gerald Tjoflat, a Ford appointee; Jill Pryor, an Obama appointee; and Keith C. Newsom, a Trump appointee. The vote was 2-1. The court order does not say how each judge voted. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

This case should not be confused with the Georgia case over voters whose voter registration applications have a tiny mismatch with information about that applicant in other state databases, such as the Drivers License registry.

New Registration Tally for New York

Posted on by November 2, 2018
6

On November 2, the New York State Board of Elections released the first registration tally since April 2018. The new statewide totals are: Democratic 5,780,030; Republican 2,633,776; Independence 442,992; Conservative 146,061; Working Families 41,853; Green 27,581; Libertarian 7,675; Women’s Equality 5,845; Reform 2,200; independent and miscellaneous 2,486,209.

The current percentages are: Democratic 49.94%; Republican 22.76%; Independence 3.83%; Conservative 1.26%; Working Families .36%; Green .24%; Libertarian .07%; Women’s Equality .05%; Reform .02%; independent and miscellaneous 21.48%.

The percentages in April 2018 were: Democratic 49.74%; Republican 23.29%; Independence 3.86%; Conservative 1.29%; Working Families .36%; Green .23%; Libertarian .06%; Women’s Equality .04%; Reform .02%; independent and miscellaneous 21.12%. Thanks to Michael Drucker for this news. All figures are active voters. When states report both active and inactive voters, BAN always uses the active voter totals.