British Columbia Provincial Election of May 9, 2017

British Columbia holds a provincial parliamentary election on May 9, 2017. See the wikipedia page for this election here. British Columbia has 87 districts. In the average district, there are 4.3 candidates on the ballot. The only parties that have as many as 10 nominees are:

Liberal 87
New Democratic 87
Green 83
Libertarian 30
Conservative 10
Your Party 10

Montana Candidates Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Put Them on Ballot

On April 20, the three Montana candidates for Congress, in the May 25 special election, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put them on the ballot. They had sued to overturn state law that required them to collect over 14,000 valid signatures in three days. The U.S. District Court agreed that the law is probably invalid, and said 400 signatures should be enough. But the U.S. District Court wouldn’t give any of the three candidates time to collect those 400 signatures.

The Ninth Circuit, without comment, refused any relief. In the U.S. Supreme Court, the case is 16A-1008. It is before Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has jurisdiction over such appeals from the Ninth Circuit. Montana is in the Ninth Circuit.

Federal Election Commission Won’t Extend Socialist Workers Party Exemption from Reporting Campaign Contributions

On April 20, the Federal Election Commission deadlocked 3-3 on whether to extend the Socialist Workers Party’s exemption from having to report its campaign contributions and also its expenditures. Because there is a tie, the motion to extend the exemption fails. The three Republican Commissioners voted in favor of the SWP. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.