It is very likely that an initiative will be on the November 2018 ballot in California, asking if voters want to split the state into three states. Law Professor Vikram David Amar here analyzes the legal and political impediments to this idea, even if the voters pass it.
On August 7, 2018, Michigan holds primaries for the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties. The Libertarian primary ballot will list two candidates for Governor, Bill Gelineau and John Tatar. Any registered voter will be able to choose to vote in the Libertarian part of the primary ballot (the ballot has all three parties on it, but voters must confine their voting to just one party’s portion).
This is the first time that any party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties has had a contested gubernatorial primary in Michigan. Michigan has been holding primaries since 1910. Although all qualified parties nominated by primary before 1931, no previous third party happened to have a contested primary for Governor.
Since 1931, only minor parties that had polled an unusually high vote have been entitled to their own primary. They are American Independent Party in 1970, Anderson Coalition Party in 1982, the Tisch Independent Citizens Party in 1988 and 1992, the Reform Party in 1998, and the Libertarian Party in 2018.
Since 1943, Georgia has required minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House to submit a petition of 5% of the number of registered voters to get on the ballot for U.S. House. This is so difficult, no independent has done it since 1964, and no minor party candidate has ever done it. The Libertarian Party currently has a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court against this requirement. Georgia allows the Libertarian Party to be on the November ballot automatically for all statewide offices (state and U.S. Senate alike), but not U.S. House or legislature.
On April 18, the state answered interrogatories, to explain why it has such draconian ballot access requirements for minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House. The state says it has a compelling interest in avoiding the need to hold a run-off general election. Georgia law, since 1964, has provided for run-off general elections for all federal and state office except president. These run-off general elections are in January of the year after the election. Georgia held runoff general elections for U.S. Senate in 1992 and 2008. Both times, the presence of a Libertarian on the ballot for U.S. Senate prevented anyone from getting as much as 50% of the vote in November, for U.S. Senate.
There is an obvious answer to Georgia’s response. The state is free to use ranked choice voting. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harlan mentioned this idea fifty years ago in his concurrence in Williams v Rhodes, 393 US 23 (1968). Williams v Rhodes was an Ohio ballot access case. Ohio defends its Democratic-Republican ballot monopoly by saying that it wants the winner to always receive at least 50%. Harlan wrote in footnote 8 that Ohio is free to use ranked choice voting.
On April 19, Illinois State Senator Sam McCann announced that he is no longer a Republican, that instead he is a member of the party he has just formed, the Conservative Party. Also he will petition to get on the ballot as the Conservative Party gubernatorial nominee. Hie Lieutenant Governor running mate will be Aaron Merreighn.
Thanks to the Libertarian Party’s win last year against the full-slate law, the new Conservative Party will not be forced to run anyone for the other statewide offices up this year, which are Secretary of State, Attorney General, Comptroller, and Treasurer.
The Conservative Party will need 25,000 valid signatures by June 25. The only other party that is petitioning for statewide office is the Libertarian Party. See this story. Thanks to Sam Cahnman for this news.
Mexico holds a presidential election on July 1. Five candidates are on the ballot. All five will debate each other on April 22. See this story.
