Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullen’s petition in Utah has enough valid signatures, according to the Utah elections office. He needed 1,000 valid signatures and the state said he had 1,083 valid. He submitted approximately 2,000 signatures.
On August 15, the West Virginia Secretary of State determined that the Constitution Party has enough valid signatures on its statewide petition. The petition includes nominees for President and Governor. No other statewide petition was submitted in West Virginia this year. The four qualified parties are Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news.
On August 15, Rocky De La Fuente, independent presidential candidate, sued Pennsylvania over the state’s rejection of his petition. De La Fuente is a registered Democrat in Florida. The state says independent candidates must not have been affiliated with a qualified party during the two months before filing. De La Fuente argues the state is misunderstanding its own law, and the law only pertains to qualified parties inside Pennsylvania.
In 1992, Ross Perot submitted his independent petition to Pennsylvania in June. His petition listed James Stockdale as his vice-presidential running mate. Stockdale had been a registered Republican in California until the middle of May 1992, but Pennsylvania did not bar Stockdale from the ballot.
The lawsuit is in U.S. District Court in the middle district, De La Fuente v Cortes, 1:16cv-1696. It is assigned to Judge John Jones.
On August 15, the Ninth Circuit ruled against the Hawaii Democratic Party, in the party’s lawsuit that tries to obtain a closed primary for itself. Democratic Party of Hawii v Nago, 13-17545. Here is the 13-page opinion, written by Judge A. Wallace Tashima.
Hawaii primaries are open. Voters at the polling place choose which party’s primary ballot to use. Registration forms do not ask applicants to choose a party, or to choose independent status. The opinion says that the very act of a voter choosing a Democratic ballot may constitute a valid form of party affiliation.
Also, the opinion says the Hawaii Democratic Party did not provide any evidence that the open primary harms it. The party had argued that such evidence is almost impossible to find.
This opinion probably means that the Montana Republican Party will give up trying to win a closed primary for itself. Montana and Hawaii are both in the Ninth Circuit. The Montana Republican Party lawsuit had been on hold until this decision came out.
On August 15, the Commission on Presidential Debates said the only polls it will look at, to determine who may be invited to the debates, are these five:
1. ABC/Washington Post
2. CBS/New York Times
3. CNN-ORC
4. Fox News
5. Wall Street Journal/NBC News
It is believed this is the first time the Commission on Presidential Debates has specified which polls count.
