According to this story, the Maine electoral college had voted a second time, and in the second vote, all the Democratic electors voted for Hillary Clinton. Also, according to the story, a Minnesota elector tried to vote for Bernie Sanders but he has been replaced.
On Sunday evening, December 18, at 11:04 p.m., Ohio state legislator Christina Hagan resigned as a Republican presidential elector. The Ohio Constitution appears to forbid state legislators from serving in any federal or other state office. A hearing on whether she was in violation of that part of the state constitution had been set for Monday morning, December 19, but the case is now moot.
See this story. Because she didn’t show up at the electoral college meeting in Columbus, the other electors replaced her, and all voted for Donald Trump.
Most states have no ban on state legislators serving in other federal or state office, and in any presidential elector, a large percentage of the presidential electors are state legislators.
The electoral college is meeting on Monday, December 19, at state capitols all around the nation. Each state sets its own time for that.
One Democratic presidential elector in Maine, David Bright, voted for Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton. Thanks to several people for that news.
The Colorado electors meet at noon, Colorado time.
On December 13, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Friot, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld Oklahoma’s petition for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties. De La Fuente v Ziriax, 16cv-914. The law requires 3% of the past presidential vote. On a percentage basis, it is the most severe law in the nation for independent presidential candidates.
The decision is eight pages. Oklahoma does not require any petition for independent candidates, except presidential independents, and plaintiffs pressed this point. But the decision says that the state has an interest in making ballot access more difficult for presidential independents than for independents for other office.
The decision says, “The presidential office is the most important office in the nation, and it is the only office which is elected by state electors, facts which justify more rigorous ballot access rules for election to this office as compared to the office of Senator. See Nixon v Fitgerald (president occupies a unique position in the constitutional scheme).”
The decision does not mention Anderson v Celebrezze, which said that states must go easier on presidential ballot access than ballot access for other office. Nor does it mention any of the decision that say states can’t make independent petitions more difficult than petitions for new parties.
The plaintiffs were Rocky De La Fuente and Jill Stein.
On December 18, the Virginia Libertarian Party, and its candidate for U.S. Senate in 2014, Rob Sarvis, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Sarvis v Alcorn. A case number hasn’t been assigned yet. The issue is the Virginia law that says the parties that polled at least 10% in one of the last two elections are automatically at the top of the ballot.
Virginia law, ironically, allows for a random method to determine whether the Republican Party or the Democratic Party are listed first, within that top tier. So the law itself recognizes the importance of being listed first on the ballot, and uses an objective standard to decide which major party gets that status.
The U.S. District Court, and the Fourth Circuit, in their opinions in this case, acknowledged that it is advantageous to be listed first on the ballot. But they said Virginia has an interest in bolstering the two largest parties against their competitors.
The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) helped pay for the cert petition printing. Thank all of you who have contributed to COFOE recently. Generally the donors are individuals who subscribe to the print edition of Ballot Access News. Individual dues for COFOE membership are $30, and members receive a free copy of Ballot Access News, print edition.
A copy of the cert petition will be posted here soon.
