John Sittner, the founder of Ancestry.com and civic activist, will be an independent candidate for U.S. House this year in Utah’s 2nd district. The 2nd district includes western Utah and most of Salt Lake City. It is usually a safe district for the Republican nominee. See this story.
Jim Palmer, who is not a Libertarian Party official, but who is very interested in data about the Libertarian Party, has created a dozen clear interesting graphs showing how the party has done over the past decades. See them here.
They cover the number of donors to the national party, the revenue to the national party, past ballot access, the percentage of U.S. voters who voted for a Libertarian, the number of members who signed the party membership pledge, voter registration data, and the number of candidates.
After looking at the opening chart, scroll down to see the next chart. Ignore the button that says “next post”.
John Conyers of Michigan resigned from the U.S. House on December 5, 2017. Governor Rick Snyder then said the vacancy would be filled on November 6, 2018, meaning that the seat would be vacant for almost eleven months. Some Michigan voters in the 13th district then sued to obtain an earlier special election.
On February 2, the voters filed their 12-page brief. Rhodes v Snyder, e.d., 17cv-14186.
The Ninth Circuit has issued a briefing schedule in De La Fuente v Padilla, 17-56668. This is the case that challenges the California independent presidential petition requirement, which is 2020 will probably be approximately 200,000 valid signatures. Every other state has some means for a presidential candidate running outside the major parties to get on the ballot with support from fewer than 50,000 people. Yet the U.S. District Court had upheld the law last year. No one has successfully completed the California independent presidential petition since 1992. The U.S. District Court upheld the law partly because it felt that the alternate means to get a new party on the ballot are easy enough. But that was a mistake for two reasons. First, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Storer v Brown in 1974 that the independent candidate and political party approaches are entirely different, and states must have adequate procedures for both. Furthermore, the California procedure for a new party is also very difficult. No group has successfully qualified with a registration drive since 1995.
The Georgia Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last year against the state’s ballot access laws for U.S. House, which are so severe, no minor party candidate for U.S. House has appeared on the ballot in a regularly-scheduled election since 1942. Cowen v Kemp, n.c. 1:17cv-4660. The requirement for a petition of 5% of the registered voters was passed in 1943.
The court recently set a briefing schedule. Discovery must be finished by June 28, and all briefs must be in by August 20.
