On June 27, the Democratic National Committee’s Rules Committee voted to change the rules for presidential conventions. Superdelegates would no longer vote for president on the first ballot, if it appeared that there would be a second ballot. See this story. Superdelegates are delegates who were not chosen through the normal primary/caucus process, but who hold the position by virtue of who they are (generally public officials).
Enough write-in returns from the June 5 California primary have now been tallied to reveal that Laura Wells, a Green Party activist, came in second in the U.S. House race, 13th district, in Alameda County. See this story. The only name on the June 5 ballot in this district was Democratic incumbent Barbara Lee, so it was inevitable that whoever got the most write-in votes in the race would place second and appear on the November ballot.
In 2014 and 2016, a Republican filed against Congresswoman Lee, so it wasn’t possible for a minor party member to come in second.
There will be three Greens on the November ballot for U.S. House in California this year. All placed second because, in each case, only one Democrat, and no Republican, filed to be on the ballot. This will be the first time any Greens have been on the November ballot for a California U.S. House race since the top-two system started. There were no minor party candidates in November 2016 or November 2012 for U.S. House in California. In 2014 there was one Peace & Freedom Party member.
Paul Mitchell has this detailed analysis of how the California top-two system has taught major party candidates to run phony ads, with the motive of tricking the other major party’s voters into choosing the weaker opponent.
On June 25, the non-voting Delegate to the U.S. House from Puerto Rico, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, introduced HR 6211. It provides for statehood for Puerto Rico. Gonzalez-Colon is a Republican, and she has 22 Republican co-sponsors, and 14 Democratic co-sponsors. The text of the bill is not yet on the webpage for Congress. The Puerto Rico representative to the U.S. House is called a “Resident Commissioner” and is elected to a four-year term, in presidential election years.
In Puerto Rico, the Republican Party is not a ballot-qualified party, but the New Progressive Party is, and considers itself the Republican Party affiliate in Puerto Rico. Gonzalez-Colon was elected as the nominee of the New Progressive Party. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On June 27, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said he will retire next month.
Justice Kennedy has not been a friend of minor party or independent candidate ballot access. The last time the U.S. Supreme Court mentioned minor party ballot access was in 2005, when five of the nine justices said helpful things about the issue. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote a concurrence in Clingman v Beaver, saying “The State is itself controlled by the political party or parties in power, which presumably have the incentive to shape the rules of the electoral game to their own benefit…As such restrictions become more severe, and particularly where they have discriminatory effects, there is increasing cause for concern that those in power may be using electoral rules to erect barriers to electoral competition.” Justice Kennedy did not join this concurrence, although four justices either joined this concurrence, or joined the dissent which said very similar things.
Justice Kennedy also wrote the opinion in Arkansas Educational TV v Forbes, which said the Constitution permits public radio and television to sponsor debates that include only the Democratic and Republican nominees. And he joined the opinion in Timmons v Twin Cities Area New Party, which upheld the ability of states to ban letting two parties jointly nominate the same candidate.
Kennedy did dissent, however, in the 1992 case that said Hawaii could ban write-in voting, Burdick v Takushi.
