Gary Johnson Accepts Libertarian Party Nomination for U.S. Senate in New Mexico

On the evening of August 13, Gary Johnson accepted the Libertarian Party nomination for U.S. Senate from New Mexico. See this story.

The second highest percentage in the past for any Libertarian running for U.S. Senate who had both a Republican and a Democratic opponent was achieved by Carla Howell in 2000. She got 11.89% in Massachusetts.

The highest was Joe Miller in Alaska in 2016. He got 29.23%.

U.S. District Court Strikes Down New Hampshire Law Concerning Signatures on Absentee Ballots

On August 14, a U.S. District Court struck down a New Hampshire law dealing with mailed absentee ballots. The law says if the signature on the outer envelope appears not to match the signatures on the voter registration record, the absentee ballot shall be rejected, with no notice to that voter. Here is the decision in Saucedo v Gardner, 1:17cv-183. This was an ACLU case. The decision is by Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee.

North Carolina Election Board Files Brief in Case Over Whether Three Constitution Party Nominees Should be on November Ballot

On August 14, the North Carolina State Elections Board filed this 15-page brief in Poindexter v Strach, e.d., 5:18cv-366. This is the case over whether three particular Constitution Party nominees should be on the November ballot. All three had run in Democratic or Republican primaries in May, and had lost. Then the Constitution Party nominated them at its state convention.

After they were nominated, the legislature passed a law, saying candidates who had run and lost in a partisan primary could not later be nominated by a new party that nominates by convention. The party then filed a federal lawsuit against that law. The state’s brief appears to be have been written before the August 13 decision of a state court, which said that another election law that had been passed after someone had qualified for the ballot (the ban on party labels for judicial candidates who had switched parties in the last three months) could not be enforced.