According to this article, the oral argument in the Alaska Supreme Court on March 29 went well for the Democratic Party, which was defending its lower court win. The issue is whether parties have a freedom of association right to decide for themselves whether to let independent candidates run in their primaries. State of Alaska v Alaska Democratic Party.
On the evening of April 2, the Montana Democratic Party and others filed a state lawsuit against the Secretary of State, saying the Secretary of State erroneously determined that the Green Party petition had enough valid signatures. The complaint does not claim the party lacks at least 5,000 signatures. But the law also says that the party must have had approximately 135 signatures in each of one-third of the 100 state house districts, and that the party is short in four districts. See this story.
Ironically, if the petition is found to be invalid, the Green Party would have a strong claim that the March petition deadline for new parties is unconstitutionally early. Petition deadlines for new parties that are as early as March have been held unconstitutional in Alabama (1991), Alaska (1990), Arkansas (1977), Idaho (1984), Maine (1984), Maryland (1978), Massachusetts (1984), Nevada (1986), New Jersey (1997), New Mexico (2012), Pennsylvania (1984), South Dakota (2018), Tennessee (2010), and Wyoming (1984).
On April 2, Florida Professor Tim Canova announced that he is changing his registration from Democratic to independent, and that he will be an independent candidate for U.S. House in Florida’s 23rd district. He will run against incumbent Democrat Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
In the August 2016 Democratic primary for the same office, Canova polled 43.2% of the vote against Wasserman-Schultz. In the general election in the same district in 2016, Wasserman-Schultz received 56.7% of the vote, her Republican opponent received 40.5%, and two independents received the remaining 2.8%.
Most states in the United States do not permit two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate and have both party labels on the ballot. But Mexico is permitting two parties, PAN and PRD, to jointly nominate Ricardo Anaya for president. Four candidates are on the ballot. The election is July 1.
Polls show that Andrew Manuel Lopez Obrador is leading. He is the nominee of a party, Morena (National Regeneration Movement) that has never before won the presidency or a plurality in the Mexican national legislature, and which was founded in 2014. Anaya is second. Jose Antonio Meade, nominee of the PRI (the party that won most elections in the last century) is third. Independent candidate Margaritz Zavala is fourth. See this story.
The ballot-qualified Moderate Party hosted Rhode Island’s first gubernatorial debate of 2018, according to this story. Only two Democratic candidates, and one Republican candidate, chose to appear. The Moderate Party itself doesn’t have a gubernatorial candidate yet. If it doesn’t run someone for Governor this year who polls 5%, it will go off the ballot.
