On November 3, Alaska state officials said they will ask the State Supreme Court to reverse the October 17 decision of a trial court in Alaska Democratic Party v State. The Superior Court had ruled that both the U.S. Constitution and the Alaska Constitution protect the ability of the Democratic Party to let independent voters seek its nomination, even though state law says no one may seek a party nomination unless that person is a member of the party. See this story.
New Jersey holds a gubernatorial election on November 7, 2017. On November 3, a Big League-Gravis poll was released. The results: Democratic 46.1%; Republican 31.8%; independent Gina Genovese 4.3%; Green Party 3.1%; other or undecided 14.8%. Here are the results; scroll down to question 5.
On November 3, Zogby Polls released the results of an odd poll that asked voters how they feel about various conceivable presidential candidates who might run as independent candidates. See the results here.
Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states in which no one has ever been elected to a state legislature who wasn’t either a Republican or a Democratic nominee. The December 1 2017 print Ballot Access News will have a chart listing the last time anyone who wasn’t a Democratic or Republican nominee was elected to each state’s legislature.
On November 2, Rocky De La Fuente filed a notice of appeal in De La Fuente v Padilla, c.d., 2:16cv-3242. The issue is the number of signatures needed for an independent presidential candidate in California. The lower court had said that it doesn’t matter how difficult the law is, because California has various minor parties on the ballot for president. This part of the decision is contradicted by the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion from 1974 in Storer v Brown. Storer v Brown said the political party approach to politics is entirely different than the independent candidate approach, and states must have constitutional procedures for both.
In 2020, if this lawsuit doesn’t win in the 9th circuit, or unless the legislature does something, the requirement will be approximately 200,000 signatures, which would be almost 40% of the number needed in the entire nation, for an independent candidate who uses the easier method in each state.
