Massachusetts Libertarian Party Completes a Statewide Primary Petition for First Time Since 2002

Posted on by June 11, 2018
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Massachusetts, Maine, and Arizona are the three states in which it is extremely difficult for a member of a small qualified party to get on his or her party’s primary ballot. In all three states, qualified parties must nominate by primary.

Last month, the Massachusetts Libertarian Party successfully placed Daniel Fishman on the Libertarian primary ballot for State Auditor. This is the first time the party has been able to complete a statewide primary petition since 2002. The number of signatures for the more important statewide offices is 10,000; for the lesser statewide offices, including Auditor, 5,000. Only members of the party and independent voters may sign primary petitions.

It is extremely likely that Fishman will poll at least 3% of the November 2018 vote, and if he does, that will retain the party’s qualified status during 2020, and the party will have its own 2020 presidential primary. Unlike other office, it is easy for presidential candidates to get on a presidential primary ballot in Massachusetts. The last Libertarian presidential primary in Massachusetts was in 2004. It was won by Gary Nolan.

Veteran Sacramento Correspondent George Skelton Writes, “Give California’s Top-Two Primary Some More Time, and if it Doesn’t get Better, Junk It

Posted on by June 11, 2018
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George Skelton, the veteran Sacramento news correspondent covering California state government, here writes, “Give California’s top-two primary some more time, and if it doesn’t get better, junk it.” This is significant, because since 2004, Skelton has been a strong supporter of the system.

The last part of his column mentions alternatives, but he seems not to know that his idea to declare a winner in June, for a candidate who gets at least 50%, is not legally permitted, at least for Congressional elections. Federal law, since 1872, has told the states to hold congressional elections in all districts in November of even-numbered years. That is why Louisiana stopped using top-two. The U.S.Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s law in 1997 in Foster v Love, because Louisiana was letting candidates win in September. Now Louisiana doesn’t have primaries (except presidential primaries). It just has a general election in November and if no one gets 50%, a runoff in December. For state office, the same principle applies, except that the election is in October of the odd years just before presidential election years.

Editorial Cartoonist Ted Rall Defends Political Parties and Partisanship

Posted on by June 11, 2018
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Ted Rall, an author and editorial cartoonist, has this opinion piece defending political parties and partisanship, and criticizing top-two systems. Some of his points have support in the political science research conducted by Samara Klar and Yanna Krupnikov, set forth in their 2016 book, “Independent Politics.” They find that most people who say they are independent voters are really strongly committed to either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, but they sense that nowadays, identifying oneself as a partisan is socially disadvantgeous, so they say they are independents. Thanks to several people for the link to the Rall column.

Minnesota Secretary of State Approves Libertarian Gubernatorial Petition

Posted on by June 11, 2018
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On June 8, the Minnesota Secretary of State approved the Libertarian Party’s gubernatorial petition. The Secretary of State is still checking the petitions for the Green Party, the Independence Party, the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party, and the Legal Marijuana Now Party.

The Libertarian Party is now either a qualified party, or on the ballot for statewide office this year even though it is not a qualified party, in 42 states and the District of Columbia. It is working on Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. It will soon start in New York. It won’t be on for statewide office, nor is it a qualified party, in Alabama and Washington. It is not known if it will have any statewide candidates on in Rhode Island. Thanks to Oliver Steinberg for the information about Minnesota.