New Mexico Libertarian Primary Write-in Total for Governor So Far is Below Minimum Needed

Posted on by June 27, 2018
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Like most states that allow write-in primaries, New Mexico sets a minimum number of votes that a write-in candidate must receive, in order to be nominated and appear on the November ballot. This year, New Mexico Libertarians running for statewide office need 230 write-in votes. It isn’t enough to just get the most votes in the primary; the minimum must be met.

The New Mexico Secretary of State’s official tally says the party’s candidate for Governor only got 175 write-in votes. See this story. Voters who cast a write-in vote are supposed to fill in the bubble on the paper ballot next to the write-in line. Otherwise the vote-counting scanner won’t count the write-in. The Libertarian Party is asking for a hand recount, which should not be very expensive because there were only about 850 voters who cast a ballot in the Libertarian primary. The party believes that if they can get a hand count, that will find more write-in votes from voters who didn’t fill in the bubble.

Courts in other states have been split over whether such write-ins can be counted. Washington and Colorado state courts ruled that they should count, but California courts ruled that they should not, although later the California law was changed to validate such write-ins if they make a difference. Thanks to Rick Lass for the link.

All Three Oklahoma Qualified Parties Will Need a Runoff Primary on August 28

Posted on by June 27, 2018
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Oklahoma held primaries on June 26. Oklahoma requires that all qualified parties nominate by primary. The state also requires a runoff primary for races in which no one got as much as 50% in the first primary.

Here are the election returns, via the State Board of Elections’ web page. All three parties appear likely to need a runoff primary this year. The Libertarian Party only had one contested primary, for Governor. So far Chris Powell has 49%, Rex Lawhorn has 31%, and Joe Exotic has 19%.

The state elections web page has the solitary Libertarian primary race tucked underneath the Republican results, and just above the Democratic results. Oklahoma doesn’t permit write-ins, and when only a single candidate files for any primary, that office is removed from the ballot and the single candidate is deemed nominated.

Democrats will need a runoff for Corporation Commissioner, and Republicans will need a runoff for many statewide offices, including Governor.

U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Pregnancy Center Compelled Speech has Consequences for Ballot Speech

Posted on by June 26, 2018
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On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v Becerra, 16-1140. The 5-4 majority said that a California law requiring anti-abortion health centers to tell their clients how they can obtain an abortion probably violates the First Amendment.

The two-page concurrence by Justice Anthony Kennedy, co-signed by Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, says, “This law is a paradigmatic example of the serious threat presented when government seeks to impose its own message in the place of individual speech, thought, and expression.” Also the majority opinion itself, by Justice Clarence Thomas, says on page 12, “As with other kinds of speech, regulating the content of professionals’ speech poses the inherent risk that the Government seeks not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to suppress unpopular ideas or information.”

Both quotes are relevant to the pending lawsuit Soltysik v Padilla, now awaiting a decision from the Ninth Circuit. The issue in that case is a California election law that compels registered members of unqualified parties to have the ballot label, “Party preference: none”. The plaintiff is a registered Socialist and he wants the ballot to say that he prefers the Socialist Party. Other candidates who have been on California primary ballots in recent years are registered in the Socialist Workers Party, the Constitution Party, and the Socialist Equality Party. They also were forced to say they had no party preference.

Reform Party Primary for Two U.S. House Seats Will Cost $1,000,000 in Election Administration Costs

Posted on by June 26, 2018
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According to this story in City and State New York, an on-line and print publication covering government in New York city, the Board of Elections is being required to spend $1,000,000 just because the ballot-qualified Reform Party has two primary contests on June 26. NOTE: the article originally said $25,000,000, but City and State amended the story to say $1,000,000. Thanks to Jim Riley for pointing this out.

New York election administration is already terribly wasteful, because the primary for state and local office is in September, but the primary for U.S. Senate and House is separate, and is on June 26. The major parties don’t have any primaries for the U.S. Senate election, nor in many U.S. House districts, so many parts of New York state won’t have an actual primary on June 26. But the Reform Party set up primaries for itself in two districts. No one is on the ballot for either primary, but because voters in those two districts submitted an “opportunity to ballot” petition, the election administrators must hold primaries and tally any write-in votes. There is no write-in filing procedure, so all write-ins must be tallied. Furthermore, the Reform Party is exercising its rights to invite all independent voters to vote in its primaries, so enough ballots must be printed to accomodate thousands of voters, even though probably only a tiny number of the independent voters in those districts will be interested in voting in the Reform Party no-candidate primaries.

The Reform Party says its motivation is to force the state legislature to pass some sensible election law changes, including giving small qualified parties the option to nominate by convention instead of primary. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.