Two States Have a Deadline for New Parties to Qualify for 2020 Election in November 2019

Posted on by November 17, 2018
13

Despite all the court cases holding early petition deadlines unconstitutional, for newly-qualifying parties, there are two states that require new parties to have qualified by November 2019, if they wish to be on the ballot for all partisan office in 2020. They are California and Utah.

California requires a new party to have finished its registration drive by November 4, 2019, if it wants to participate in the 2020 election for office other than president. Utah requires a new party to have completed its petition drive by November 30, 2019, in order to be on the ballot in 2020. In the past, Utah let candidates who use the independent procedure have a party label next to their names on the ballot, but that law was repealed in 2009, and now candidates who use the independent procedure can only have the label “Unaffiliated.”

No group has ever sued Utah over its early petition deadline. The Justice Party and the Constitution Party sued California over its early deadline for new parties in 2012, and they won the case. But the legislature only changed the deadline for parties that want to run for president.

Gap Narrows for Riverside County, California, Supervisor Race Between Libertarian Mayor and Republican Legislator

Posted on by November 17, 2018
16

As of the afternoon of November 16, the race between Jeff Hewitt and Russ Bogh had tightened. They are the candidates for Riverside County, California, Supervisor, district 5. Bogh now leads by 252 votes. The vote is Bogh 36,185; Hewitt 35,933.

The race is non-partisan. Bogh is a former Republican state legislator. Hewitt, a member of the Libertarian Party, is outgoing Mayor of Calimesa. Bogh’s margin had been 360 votes as of a week ago, and there are still many uncounted ballots.

If Hewitt were to win, he would have almost 500,000 constituents. That would be the largest jurisdiction to elect a member of the Libertarian Party, in the entire nation, in the last 25 years.

Despite Big Turnout that Raises Petition Requirements, Presidential Candidates for 2020 Using the Easier Method in Each State Will Face Slightly Easier Barrier

Posted on by November 16, 2018
2

The ballot access petition requirements in many states shot up last week, due to the heavy voter turnout in November 2018. Nevertheless, presidential candidates who run outside the two major parties in 2020 will face a slightly lesser petition burden than such candidates faced in 2016. The December 1 print edition of Ballot Access News will have the 2020 petition requirements for each state. This statement assumes that presidential candidates will be pragmatic, and use the easier method in each state for getting on the ballot, new party or independent.

In 2020, just three states are responsible for 57.6% of the entire national petition burden. They are California, Florida, and Texas. California is already being sued over its independent presidential petition requirement, and it is likely that soon Florida and Texas will also be sued.