This newspaper story describes the intense Republican Party effort in Nebraska to defeat State Senator Laura Ebke for re-election. She joined the Libertarian Party in 2016. The story also reveals that even though Nebraska’s legislature is technically non-partisan (with no party labels on the ballot) in reality the elections are very partisan.
Several Philadelphia election officials have pleaded guilty for their behavior in the 2017 special election in the 197th district. This was the special election in which Green candidate Cheri Honkala put up a strong campaign. The election officials were charged with trying to influence voters to vote for the Democratic candidate, who did win the election. See this story.
On May 12, in Lusk, Wyoming, the Constitution Party held its 2018 nominating convention. It nominated Rex Rammel for Governor, who had earlier this year been seeking the Republican nomination.
The Eleventh Circuit heard Hall v Merrill, 16-16766, on December 13, 2017, and there is still no decision. This is the case in which the U.S. District Court struck down Alabama’s 3% petition, as applied to U.S. House candidates in special elections, on the grounds that there isn’t enough time in special elections to expect anyone to complete such a petition.
Alabama has never had an independent candidate on the ballot in a special U.S. House election, going all the way back to 1893, the year goverment-printed ballots began in Alabama. Therefore it is difficult to take the state’s assertion seriously that the state must worry about a crowded ballot. Until 1971, independent candidates for U.S. House only needed 300 signatures, and still the ballot was always limited to just a Democrat or a Republican in special U.S. House elections; or sometimes only a Democrat was on the ballot.
This lawsuit originated in 2013, and is the oldest pending constitutional ballot access case in the nation.
The New York Times editorial board here recommends that moderate California voters create a new party.
