On February 26, a Democratic Party group sued Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker over his refusal to call special elections to fill two empty legislative seats. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link. The case is in state court.
1
On February 20, the Democratic National Committee filed its brief in the Eleventh Circuit in Wilding v Democratic National Committee Services, 17-14194. The brief says this case “is an improper attempt to forge the federal courts into a political weapon to be used by individuals who are unhappy with how a political party selected its candidate in a presidentia campaign.
The case had been filed in 2016 by Democrats who had contributed to the Democratic Party, and who are or were supporters of Bernie Sanders. They charged that the party broke its own rules and tilted the presidential nomination contest toward Hillary Clinton.
The Green Party has never been on the Indiana ballot for statewide office. However, it is trying to place a candidate for Secretary of State on the 2018 ballot. It has 500 signatures. The requirement is 26,700 signatures, due June 30. Although that is a severe requirement, it is lower than it has been since 1982, because the requirement is based on midterm year turnout, and the 2014 Indiana turnout was extraordinarily low.
No one has done a successful statewide petition in Indiana (neither independent nor third party) since 2000, when Pat Buchanan did it.
The Green Party has never been on the ballot in Idaho, although some of its presidential nominees have qualified as independent candidates. The Idaho independent petition is only 1,000 signatures for statewide office, but the party petition is 2% of the last presidential vote, which is currently 13,809.
However, the Green Party is now circulating a party petition in Idaho, and it has a few hundred signatures. The deadline is August 30. The reason the party petition deadline is so late is that the Populist Party won a lawsuit in the Ninth Circuit in 1984 against the old May deadline.
If a party can get on the ballot in Idaho, it can easily remain on the ballot, as long as it continues to be active. A party remains on the ballot if it runs at least three candidates every two years. It doesn’t matter how many votes its candidates get; it merely must run three candidates.
On February 25, the Utah Republican Party Central Committee passed a bylaw that says any Republican who petitions onto the primary ballot can be expelled from the party. See this story. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.