On January 13, the Federal Election Commission sent a final check to the Jill Stein presidential campaign, for $134,900. The total Stein’s campaign received from the matching funds program in 2016 was $590,935. See the FEC’s press release here.
Evan McMullin, the independent presidential candidate who placed fifth in the November 2016 presidential election, has established a new organization called Stand Up Republic. Here is a link to the webpage.
There will probably be at least six special U.S. House elections in 2017. The date of the first one will be April 11, for the Kansas 4th district special election to replace Congressman Mike Pompeo.
On January 24, the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee defeated SB 837, which would have provided that each U.S. House district choose its own presidential elector. The bill received five “yes” votes, all Republicans. Voting against were six Democrats and three Republicans.
On January 24, the Illinois Green Party filed its opening brief in the Seventh Circuit in Tripp v Scholz, 16-3469. The original case had been filed in 2014 and challenged the difficult petition rules for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, for state legislature. The party argues that the combination of the high number of signatures (5% of the last vote cast), the need to have the petitions notarized, the 90-day period for circulating the petition, and the gerrymandered districts, together makes it virtually impossible for anyone to ever complete such petitions, especially in the less densely-populated parts of the state.
The U.S. District Court for the southern district had upheld the law in August 2016.
