The Socialist Party now has a state organization in Maine. See this story. The last time any nominee of the Socialist Party was on the ballot in Maine was 1952. Back then Maine only required 1,000 signatures for a statewide independent or the statewide nominee of an unqualified party.
On July 13, Paul Merritt filed this amended Complaint in Merritt v Padilla, c.d., 8:16cv-606. This is the case over the California Voter Guide, a pamphlet sent to every registered California voter. Candidates for federal or state office can pay to have a statement in the Guide. Under state law, no part of a candidate’s statement may be amended unless a voter or the Secretary of State files a lawsuit for that purpose during the “public examination” period, before the book is printed.
But Paul Merritt, who was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016, had his statement altered, even though neither the Secretary of State nor anyone else filed such a lawsuit. The Secretary of State didn’t even tell Merritt that his statement had been changed, and Merritt only found out when the Orange County elections office informed him. Merritt had written that he was a “registered independent voter” (which was true) but the Secretary of State changed it to read he had “no party preference.” This amended complaint alleges that the Secretary of State violated Merritt’s due process rights. The judge in this case already ruled that the Secretary of State did not violate Merritt’s First Amendment rights, but allowed this amended complaint to be filed over the issue of the procedure the Secretary of State used.
In the October 2017 for Louisiana State Treasurer, there will be four Republicans, one Democrat, one Libertarian, and one independent. See this story.
See the very last paragraph of this story, which says that the Democratic and Republican Parties in Wake County, North Carolina, missed the deadline to submit nominees for the County Board of Elections. The Libertarian Party met the deadline. If the State Supreme Court strikes down the new law that the Governor is fighting, then the three names submitted by the Libertarian Party will become the members of the Wake County Board. Wake County includes the state capital, Raleigh.
UPDATE: see this story.
A 3-judge U.S. District Court will hear oral arguments in Greensboro on whether the North Carolina legislature must be re-elected in a special election in 2017, or whether it can wait until 2018. The districts have been invalidated as a racial gerrymander but the question now is when new districts must be drawn. See this story.
