On July 20, the Republican National Committee chose Charlotte, North Carolina, for its 2020 convention. The dates haven’t been chosen yet. The Democrats, by contrast, have not chosen the city, but they have chosen their dates.
In 2016, six cities bid to host the Republican convention: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, and Las Vegas. But for 2020, only two cities bid for the Republican convention. The other city that bid was Las Vegas. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On July 20, the North Carolina Constitution Party filed a federal lawsuit to regain a spot on the November ballot for three of its nominees. The State Board of Elections removed them because they had run in Democratic or Republican primaries this year, and had lost those primaries; then the Constitution Party had nominated them in its convention. Poindexter v Strach, e.d., 5:18cv-366. Here is the eleven-page Complaint.
The basis for the lawsuit is due process. On the date the Constitution Party nominated the three candidates, there was no law saying a convention party could not nominate persons who had earlier run in a major party primary. The law didn’t exist until a few days after the nominating convention. Two of the candidates are running for partisan county office and one for the legislature. One had run in a Democratic primary, and two in a Republican primary.
Last year a U.S. District Court struck down the Delaware law saying all state court judges must be members of a party entitled to a primary. In Delaware, no party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties has ever been entitled to a primary. Primary parties must have registration of at least 5% of the total.
The Delaware government hopes to persuade the Third Circuit to reverse the U.S. District Court and uphold the law. Here is the opening brief filed by the state. The case is being expedited and all briefs will be filed by August 31.
On July 18, the Montana Secretary of State asked the Montana Supreme Court to put the Green Party back on the November ballot. The Secretary of State had originally determined that the Green Party had enough valid signatures, in March. In June the state held a primary for the Green Party. Then, on July 9, a state trial court removed the party from the ballot, on the basis that the Democratic Party’s challenge to the petition validity should be upheld. The trial over the validity of the signatures had been held in April, and the judge waited almost three months before ruling. See this story.
July 19 is the Michigan deadline for independent candidate petitions. Christopher Graveline, a well-qualified independent candidate for Attorney General, brought about 18,000 signatures into the office, but his filing was rejected because it was below the required 30,000 signatures. See this earlier article about Graveline.
No independent candidate for any statewide office in Michigan has ever successfully petitioned, except for Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2004. The state did not even have statutory procedures for independent candidates until 1988.
It is possible Graveline will file a lawsuit to overturn the ballot access law. Courts have been virtually unanimous that independent candidate petition deadlines can’t be earlier than the date of the primary, and Michigan’s primary is August 7.
Other states this year in which highly-qualified independent candidates for statewide office have tried and failed to get on the ballot are Arizona, Indiana, and Texas.
