On August 21, the New York Libertarian Party submitted 31,650 signatures on its statewide candidate petition. The requirement is 15,000. It is thought that the only other statewide petition turned in is for the SAM (Serve America Movement), for its gubernatorial nominee Stephanie Miner. Attempts are being made to find out how many signatures Miner submitted. UPDATE: SAM submitted 40,800 signatures.
On August 20, Emerson Polls released a poll for the New Mexico U.S. Senate race. The results: incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich 39%, Libertarian Gary Johnson 21%, Mick Rich 11%, undecided 30%.
If Johnson does outpoll Rich in November, that will be the second time since 1970 in which a Republican nominee for U.S. Senate placed third in any general election. In 2006 the Republican nominee in Connecticut placed third. Also, In 1970 in New York, the Republican nominee, Charles Goodell, placed third behind the Conservative and the Democrat. Also in 1970 in Virginia, the Republican nominee, Ray Garland, placed third behind independent Harry F. Byrd, Jr., and Democrat George Rawlings. Thanks to Clifford Thies for the link.
On August 21, the California Secretary of State approved an open-source vote-counting program developed by Los Angeles County. It will be used for the November 2018 election. See here for more about the VSAP system. Generally, programs for vote-counting technology are proprietary, owned by the for-profit companies that developed them, and not available for public inspection. But the new Los Angeles system is open source. San Francisco County is also working toward an open source system.
On August 20, at the judge’s instructions, the Georgia voters who are challenging use of the state’s vote-counting machines filed this brief. The purpose of the brief is to show that it is feasible for the state to use a different type of machine in time for the November 2018 election. The cas is Curling v Kemp, n.d., 1:17cv-2989.
On August 20, Chris Graveline filed his reply brief in Graveline v Johnson, e.d., 2:18cv-12354. This is the case that challenges Michigan’s petition requirement for independent candidates for statewide office. The plaintiff is running as an independent for Attorney General. The hearing is August 22. This reply brief stresses that the case challenges the petition deadline, which is several weeks in advance of the primary. It points out that the Secretary of State’s brief didn’t even defend that deadline. Courts are virtually unanimous that non-presidential independent candidate petitions can’t be earlier than the primary date.
