County Republican Party in West Virginia Believes Any Republican Candidate in a Primary Who Asks Democrats to Switch Registration is Breaking the Law

Posted on by March 15, 2018
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According to this story, the Republican Party of Jefferson County, West Virginia, seems to feel that it might be illegal for anyone running in a Republican primary to communicate with Democratic voters, asking them to switch their registration from Democratic to independent so as to be able to choose a Republican primary ballot and vote for the candidate who asked them to switch. Independents can vote in major party primaries in West Virginia.

The Republican candidate who did this has a primary opponent, and the opponent is on the Republican Party County Committee.

Huffington Post Interviews Libertarian Candidate from This Week’s Special Election in Pennsylvania

Posted on by March 15, 2018
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The Huffington Post has this interesting interview with Drew Miller, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. House, 18th district, in the special election of March 13. The main point is that none of the mainstream media, neither print nor television, would ever acknowledge that he was on the ballot, until election night. Only then, when it became apparent that he held the balance of power in the race, did CNN add his name to the televised election returns.

UPDATE: also see this story about Miller in The Pitt News, the student newspaper at the University of Pittsburgh. This article reveals that Miller has been deluged with hate e-mail from supporters of the Republican nominee.

Peace & Freedom Party is Only California Third Party to Enter Insurance Commissioner Race

Posted on by March 16, 2018
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California elects an Insurance Commissioner in a partisan election. Only six candidates are on the June ballot: three Democrats, one Republican, one Peace & Freedom Party member, and one independent candidate. UPDATE: the Republican, Peter Kuo, failed to qualify, so there are only five candidates.

The Peace & Freedom Party member is Nathalie Hrizi. The three Democrats are Asif Mahmood, State Senator Ricardo Lara, and Paul Song. The independent is Steve Poizner, who held the position 2006-2010, when he was a Republican.

It is very likely that Hrizi will poll over 2% of the June vote. If she does, that will keep the Peace & Freedom Party on the ballot for four years, even if the party’s registration dips below .33% of the state total. At the last registration tally, as of January 2018, PFP was .40%.

U.S. District Judge Wants Two More Quick Briefs Before He Decides Whether to Order Michigan to Hold Special Congressional Election

Posted on by March 16, 2018
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On March 15, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, an Obama appointee, heard arguments in Rhodes v Snyder, e.d., 2:17cv-14186. The issue is whether Michigan must hold a special election to fill the vacant 13th district U.S. House seat, or whether it can wait until November. The seat has been vacant since December 5, 2017, when Congressman John Conyers resigned.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge asked the state to submit a brief of five pages or less by Monday, March 19, explaining what burden the state would suffer if a special election were held in the next few months. The voter-plaintiffs who want the election as soon as possible then have until Wednesday, March 21, to respond. This outcome seems to show that the voter-plaintiffs will win the case. The state’s chief argument had been that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs took too long to file the case.

Here is the previous brief of the voter-plaintiffs. UPDATE: here is an article about the hearing.