No One Challenges Pennsylvania Petition for Statewide Independent Supreme Court Candidate

Posted on by August 11, 2015
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Earlier this year, independent candidate Paul Panepinto submitted a petition to be on the November 3, 2015 ballot for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, a statewide partisan office. August 11 was the deadline for anyone to challenge his petition, but no one did so, so he is on the ballot. He is the first candidate to run outside the two major parties for that office since 1993.

Chances are, since he is a former Republican local judge, the Republican Party would have challenged his petition if it had not been for last month’s court decision invalidating Pennsylvania’s challenge system.

Sixteen Tennessee State Legislators File Amicus Curiae Brief in Evenwel v Abbott

Posted on by August 11, 2015
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On August 7, several amici curiae briefs were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Evenwel v Abbott, 14-940. The issue is whether the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. House and state legislative districts to based on equal numbers of eligible voters, or population. One of the amici is from sixteen Tennessee state legislators. They argue that the Court should choose eligible voters. Here is the amicus.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Daily Newspaper Editorializes that State Should Not Appeal Ballot Access Decision

Posted on by August 11, 2015
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The August 10 edition of Lancaster’s daily newspaper has this editorial, asking the state not to appeal the U.S. District Court decision of last month that struck down Pennsylvania’s ballot access procedures for minor parties. Although the newspaper had previously carried an op-ed making the same point, this is the first editorial on the subject.

The daily newspaper in Lancaster was formerly called the Intelligencer Journal, but now it is “LNP”. The editorial says the state still hasn’t decided whether or not to appeal. It must decide by the end of August.

Kentucky Republican Party May Use Presidential Primary Rather than Caucus

Posted on by August 11, 2015
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Kentucky election laws provide presidential primaries in May to any party that received 20% of the vote in the last presidential election. But earlier this year, the Executive Committee of the Kentucky Republican Party voted tentatively not to use the presidential primary, and instead set up a caucus in March.

However, the full party state central committee makes the final decision about that on August 22. According to this story, the party is leaning away from a caucus. The idea for a caucus had originated with supporters of U.S. Senator Rand Paul. Paul must run for re-election to the U.S. Senate next year, and his name can’t appear on the presidential primary ballot if he is simultaneously running for the Senate nomination. Thanks to Doug McNeil for the link.

United Independent Party of Massachusetts Now Has 8,576 Registered Members

Posted on by August 10, 2015
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The United Independent Party is a qualified party in Massachusetts. It will remain ballot-qualified after November 2016 even if it has no statewide nominees that year if it gets its registration up to 1% of the state total.

Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts Secretary of State informed the party that it now has 8,576 registered members. At this rate of growth, it is very likely to have the 40,000 or 45,000 that it will need by November 2016.

Ever since 1991, Massachusetts had let groups become qualified parties if they get their registration up to 1%, but no group has ever before used that method.

The party could also remain ballot-qualified after November 2016 if it polls 3% or more for President in November 2016, but the party doesn’t expect to get involved in the presidential election. No other statewide offices are up in Massachusetts in 2016.