This Toledo Blade editorial says the Ohio Secretary of State should rule that the Libertarian Party is a qualified party.
Reply
Jill Stein is in the process of polling her 161,000 recount donors, for their input on what to do with the unspent funds. See her web page here.
On December 14, the Eighth Circuit heard Moore v Martin, 15-3558. This is the case over the constitutionality of the non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline in Arkansas, which is in early March. The three judges are Roger Wollman, Lavenski Smith, and Duane Benton. The lower court had upheld the deadline. From the tenor of the argument and the comments and questions of each of the judges, it seems likely that the panel will reverse the lower court and invalidate the deadline.
Arkansas had its April deadline declared unconstitutional in 1974, and again in 1976. An even earlier deadline passed in 1987, January, was held unconstitutional in 1988. The Arkansas legislature has consistently lost on this issue, but invariably the legislature fixes the law, and then forgets why it did that, and reverts to an early deadline. The oral argument partly focused on the historical record.
Many powerful California Democrats have signaled that they intend to run for Governor of California in 2018. On December 14, one of the few Republicans who had been considered a strong contender for Governor, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, said she will not run for Governor in 2018. See this story. This increases the chances that the 2018 California primary will result in only two Democrats being on the November ballot for Governor.
Swearengin will only be Mayor of Fresno a few more weeks. She did not run for re-election.
On December 13, a Colorado state court ruled that presidential electors who vote for someone other than the expected candidates automatically ceases to be a presidential elector. See the ruling here. The case is Williams v Baca.
According to this story, the Secretary of State says he will recommend criminal charges for any elector who votes differently than for the expected candidates.
Colorado election law 1-4-304 governs the meeting of presidential electors. They convene at noon in the Governor’s office.