Yellowstone County, Montana, elects three County Commissioners in partisan elections. All of the elections are at-large. However, the county divides itself into three districts for purposes of the residency of the candidates. Hans Abbey, an independent candidate for that office this year, collected signatures throughout the county, but the elections office says only signatures from residents of hit residency district may sign the petition. Abbey has sued to win a ruling that all voters in the county may sign. See this story.

On June 17, U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Strickland enjoined the ballot-qualified Libertarian Party from calling itself the Libertarian Party. Libertarian National Committee v Libertarian Party of New Mexico, 1:26cv-1562. Here is the order.

The order says, “This may require candidates running under the Libertarian Party of New Mexico name in this cycle to run as independents or seek the nomination of another party.” This seems stunningly naive. The Secretary of State was not a named defendant and was not otherwise brought into the lawsuit. If the Secretary of State continues to follow the election law and some members of the ballot-qualified party qualify for the general election ballot, this injunction cannot force the Secretary of State to block that candidate.

The ballot-qualified Libertarian Party has 14,399 registered members. The injunction makes no reference to their existence.