Seventh Circuit Hears Illinois Libertarian Case Against Full-Slate Law

Posted on by February 24, 2017
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On February 24, the 7th circuit heard oral argument in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Scholz, 16-1667. The issue is the unique Illinois law that requires newly-qualifying parties, but not old parties, to run a full slate of candidates. The U.S. District Court had struck it down last year and the state had appealed.

The hearing went well for the Libertarian Party. The judges are Frank H. Easterbrook, Michael S. Kanne, and Diane S. Sykes. UPDATE: anyone can listen to the 30-minute oral argument using this link, which is provided by the Seventh Circuit. It gets interesting approximately 13 minutes into the argument.

Green Party and Constitution Party File Ballot Access Case in North Carolina

Posted on by February 24, 2017
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On February 23, the North Carolina Green and Constitution Parties filed a lawsuit against many aspects of North Carolina’s ballot access laws. North Carolina requires more signatures than any other state for an independent presidential candidate, or the presidential nominee of an unqualified party, to get on the ballot (when the easiest method in each state is compared). Leifert v North Carolina State Board of Elections, m.d., 1:17cv-147. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen, a Bush Jr. appointee.

There are now constitutional ballot access cases filed by minor parties or independent candidates in 17 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

Indiana State Court Rules Election Officials Acted Properly When They Left Candidate on the Ballot who had Died Four Days Before the Election

Posted on by February 23, 2017
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On February 8, an Indiana state trial court ruled that Allen County officials did not break any Indiana election law when they left a candidate on the November 8, 2016 ballot, even though he had died four days before the election. See this story. Roy Buskirk was a Republican Party nominee for county council-at-large, and he was re-elected. Because he had died, the Republican Party was permitted to choose his replacement.

Tennessee Libertarian Party Asks Secretary of State to Acknowledge that Gary Johnson Vote Means Party is Qualified

Posted on by February 25, 2017
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On February 15, the Tennessee Libertarian Party asked the Secretary of State to rule that it is a qualified party, based on the Gary Johnson vote last year. Johnson polled 70,397 votes in Tennessee last November. The law says a group needs to poll 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, for any statewide race, to become or retain status as a qualified party. The last gubernatorial election in Tennessee was in November 2014, and 5% of the 2014 gubernatorial vote is 67,687.

The law says a party must have an officer in every county, and the party waited to send the letter until it had achieved that goal. Tennessee has 95 counties.

Section 2-1-104 of the Tennessee election law defines “party” to be “a political party at least one of whose candidates for an office to be elected by voters of the entire state received a number of votes equal to at least 5% of the total number of votes cast for gubernatorial candidates in the most recent election of governor” or a group that submits a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.

Tennessee hasn’t had any qualified parties, other than the Republican and Democratic Parties, since George Wallace’s American Party lost its status in November 1972. Not counting Tennessee, there are only eight states with no ballot-qualified parties other than the Democrats and Republicans.