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Missouri Secretary of State Adds Rocky De La Fuente to the List of Declared Write-in Presidential Candidates

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Richard WingerOctober 31, 2016

On the afternoon of October 31, the Missouri Secretary of State revised an earlier decision, and ruled that Rocky De La Fuente may be a declared write-in for president. Earlier in the day De La Fuente had been told that he can’t be a write-in candidate, because he had run in the Missouri Democratic presidential primary this year. But because Missouri let Gary Johnson run in both the Republican presidential primary and the general election in 2012, the De La Fuente ruling was reversed favorably to De La Fuente.

New York Reform Party Case Decided; Curtis Sliwa Faction Wins

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Richard WingerOctober 31, 2016

On October 27, a New York State Supreme Judge in Albany County ruled that the Reform Party’s organizational meeting of September 24, 2016, is valid. There are two factions in the Reform Party of New York. The faction that held the organizational meeting declined to choose any presidential elector candidates, and elected Curtis Sliwa as state chair. Sliwa is best known for having founded the anti-crime group Guardian Angels.

The other faction is beholden to the New York Republican Party and has generally nominated candidates for district and county office who are also Republican Party nominees.

The attendees at the Sliwa faction’s meeting had all been elected at the September 13, 2016 primary to the Reform Party state committee. The other faction challenged the meeting on the grounds that, potentially, there were 456 members of the party’s state committee that might have been elected in the September primary. But the decision points out that the 2015 party rules did not say the party needs to elect a state committee in every single district in the state. Because 16 of the 18 actual members of the State Committee participated in the September 24 meeting, which is more than the required two-thirds quorum, the judge said the meeting was valid.

The judge also said that the people who filed the lawsuit to invalidate the meeting had failed to serve one of the 18 members, and had failed to serve the Reform Party itself, which also means that the lawsuit should be dismissed. The case is Merrell v Sliwa, Albany Co., 5829-16. Thanks to Frank Morano for this news. UPDATE: here is a news story.

Missouri Secretary of State Releases List of Presidential Write-in Candidates

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Richard WingerOctober 31, 2016

On October 31, the Missouri Secretary of State determined that four write-in presidential candidates will have their write-ins counted. They are Tom Hoefling, Laurence Kotlikoff, Evan McMullin, and Marshall Schoenke.

Presidential candidates on the Missouri ballot are Darrell Castle, Hillary Clinton, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Donald Trump.

Rocky De La Fuente filed as a write-in, and his paperwork was approved, but he is still being told that his write-ins won’t be counted because he ran in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. However, the Missouri sore loser law does not apply to presidential candidates. The statute, 115.453, only bars candidates who ran in a primary and “were not nominated.” This language cannot refer to a presidential primary, because no candidate for president is ever nominated in a single state’s primary. Furthermore, in 2012, Gary Johnson ran in the Republican presidential primary in Missouri, and he was still allowed to be on the November 2012 ballot as the Libertarian nominee.

The Secretary of State’s office says, in its defense, that section 115.453 was amended in 2014 by House Bill 1136. However, the 2014 amendment did not amend that part of 115.453 that deals with sore losers. The only part of 115.453 that was amended in 2014 was the addition of the words “distinguishing mark” to replace the words “cross (X)”. I attempted to point this out to the Secretary of State’s office, but was unable to reach any person; the main number only provided a voice mail.

Michigan Secretary of State Re-iterates Policy of Not Posting List of Declared Write-in Presidential Candidates on Web Page

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Richard WingerOctober 31, 2016

Michigan appears to be the one of the few states that has a write-in declaration filing procedure, but which won’t list the declared write-in candidates on its web page. On October 31, an official of the Michigan Secretary of State, Carol Pierce, stated in an e-mail to a Michigan voter that the office will not list the write-in candidates on its web page because this would “break format.” Thanks to John Anthony La Pietra for this news.

Tavis Smiley Show on PBS Features Forum With Jill Stein and Gary Johnson

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Richard WingerOctober 31, 2016

The Tavis Smiley Show, broadcast on PBS television stations every weekday, will air a segment that is entirely a forum with Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. The show lasts 30 minutes. It is being taped on October 31 in Los Angeles and will be broadcast on the evening of October 31 and again on November 1, at various times. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.