Ninth Circuit Likely to Hear Washington Ballot Access Case in March 2019

The Ninth Circuit expects to set an oral argument in March 2019 for De La Fuente v Wyman, 18-35208. This is a Washington state ballot access lawsuit. Rocky De La Fuente won in U.S. District Court, in his challenge to a state law that requires petitioners for independent presidential candidates to publish a notice in a newspaper at least ten days before they start to petition. The notice must say where the petitioning will be carried out. The state is trying to overturn the U.S. District Court decision.

Also, the Ninth Circuit has moved the date for the oral argument in the Arizona Libertarian ballot access case away from February. It will be in March, or possible a later month. This is Libertarian Party of Arizona v Reagan, 17-16491, a challenge to the number of signatures needed to get a member of a small qualified party on his or her primary ballot. This is the law that kept all Libertarians off the November 2018 Arizona ballot. The law did not apply to the Green Party.

Republicans Win Both Georgia Statewide Runoffs

On November 4, Georgia voters elected Republicans to the Secretary of State position, and to a position on the Public Service Commission. Runoffs were needed because no one got as much as 50% in November 6. The margin was approximately 52% for the Republicans in each race, and 48% for the Democrats. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s unofficial returns.

Massachusetts Registration Tally for the Unqualified Parties

Here are the number of voters registered in various unqualified parties in Massachusetts, just prior to the November 2018 election. The Massachusetts Secretary of State does not put these totals on his web page, and it took a while to obtain the data.

The Green Party became ballot-qualified on election day, November 6, 2018, but it wasn’t ballot-qualified when this data was compiled. This tally is as of October 17, 2018:

Green 4,970
Socialist 1,037
Constitution 265
Reform 128
Working Families 55
Prohibition 16

The August 15 totals for the same parties were:

Green 4,932
Socialist 808
Constitution 244
Reform 119
Working Families 12
Prohibition 18