Three-Party Debates to be Held for Pennsylvania U.S. House, 7th district

Posted on by September 9, 2018
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The Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties all have nominees on the ballot for Pennsylvania’s U.S. House race, 7th district, in the Lehigh Valley. At least four debates are being held that include all three candidates. See this story.

Last month, the Republican Party executive director, Mike Stoll, wrote a letter to the Pennsylvania Attorney General, saying he had found two voters whose signatures were listed on the Libertarian petition and who now say they didn’t sign the petition. The objection was dismissed. The Libertarian, Tim Silfies, submitted 2,250 signatures to meet a requirement of 1,019 signatures. Silfies told the press that many individuals who had signed his petition received phone calls from unidentified individuals, asking if they had signed his petition. The 7th district is considered a swing district.

Tennessee Gubernatorial Election Has Greatest Number of Candidates for a Regularly-Scheduled Statewide Election in U.S. History

Posted on by September 8, 2018
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In November 2018, 28 candidates for Governor of Tennessee will be on the ballot. For regularly-scheduled statewide general elections, this is the greatest number of candidates on a government-printed ballot in U.S. history, for a particular office.

The main reason there are so many candidates in the Tennessee Governor’s race is that the Libertarian Party placed fifteen candidates on the ballot, using the independent procedure, which only needs 25 signatures, and no filing fee. Also one Green filed, plus ten bona fide independents.

Libertarians took this action to draw attention to the irrational ballot access laws of Tennessee. The petition to create a party requires signatures equal to 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, a petition so difficult that it hasn’t been successfully used since 1968. Libertarians this year actually tried to get 23 gubernatorial candidates on the ballot, using the independent procedure, but not all of them qualified.

The previous high number of candidates in a regularly-scheduled statewide general election was for president in Colorado in November 2016. That ballot had 22 presidential candidates. Colorado does not require a petition to get on the ballot for president in November; it just requires a $1,000 fee.

Here is a link to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s web page, listing the November 2018 candidates. The press in Tennessee has almost entirely ignored the number of candidates on the ballot.