On March 12, the Montana Secretary of State determined that the Green Party petition for party status is valid. This is the first time the Green Party has been a ballot-qualified party in Montana since 2004. The petition needed 5,000 signatures. Thanks to Steve Kelly for this news.
The Constitution Party is not a ballot-qualified party in California. Nevertheless, the June 2018 Voters Guide (which is mailed to all registered voters by the Secretary of State) will mention the Constitution Party indirectly. Don Grundmann, a registered member of the Constitution Party, is on the ballot for U.S. Senate. Although his ballot label will be “party preference: none”, his paid statement in the Voters Guide will say that he is the state chairman of the Constitution Party.
As far as is known, this is the first time the name of an unqualified party has been mentioned in the California Voters Guide. Only statewide candidates can have paid statements in the Guide. Candidates for legislature and U.S. House cannot have such statements.
The Socialist Workers Party had a candidate on the California primary ballot in 2016, Eleanor Garcia. However she did not have a paid statement in the Voters Guide.
On March 9, the Wyoming legislature passed HB 40, which adds a column for the date of signing to independent candidate petitions. Wyoming law doesn’t let signers sign for more than a single independent candidate for the same office. However, with no date, without this new bill, it has been impossible to know which petition was signed first, when a voter signers for multiple candidates for the same office.
This Salt Lake Tribune story says, in theory, under existing Utah law, the Republican Party’s nominees in the November 2018 might not have their party label on the ballot. Existing law says parties that promised to let candidates get on the primary ballot by petition are the only ones that are permitted to have the party label on the November ballot. Republican Party leaders recently changed their bylaws to disallow petitioning candidates. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Illinois State Senator Sam McCann, who has been in the Senate since 2010, may run for re-election this year as an independent. See this story. In his previous elections he was the Republican nominee. However, this year, he did not file for re-election in the Republican primary, which is being held March 20.
If he does petition as an independent, his only opponent will be only person who did file in the Republican primary. No Democrat is running. Thanks to Sam Cahnman for the link.
