On Monday, Labor Day, Connecticut Secretary of State employees determined that the Libertarian presidential petition has enough valid signatures. The petition did not need to list anyone for U.S. Senate, because the Libertarian Party is already ballot-qualified for that office. See this story. The office still hasn’t finished checking the presidential petition of independent Rocky De La Fuente.
If Gary Johnson polls 4% of the vote in every state on November 8, 2016, and if in certain states other statewide Libertarians also poll 4%, the Libertarian Party will be ballot-qualified in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut (for President and U.S. Senate), Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia (for statewide office), Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
With a 5% showing, Illinois (for statewide office), Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington would also be on the list, for a total of 43 (counting D.C. as a state). The Maine law on how a party remains on the ballot is in transition, and Maine might also belong on the list.
After November 1996, the Reform Party was ballot-qualified in 32 states. Perot polled over 5% in every state, but unfortunately for the Reform Party, Ross Perot had qualified as an independent, instead of the Reform Party nominee, in Alabama, Delaware, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
No party, other than the Republican and Democratic Parties, has been ballot-qualified in at least 40 states at any time since the 1910’s decade. After the 2012 election, the Libertarian was on in 31 states. After the 2000 election, the Green Party was on in 22 states.
In early 2015, just before outgoing Illinois Democratic Governor Pat Quinn left office, he signed a bill that mandates election-day registration at the polls in counties and cities with a population greater than 100,000. The bill had passed on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting “yes” and all Republicans voting “no.”
On August 4, 2016, Republican U.S. House nominee Patrick Harlan, running in the 17th district, filed a lawsuit against the new law, arguing that it discriminates against voters in small-population counties. Harlan v Scholz, n.d., 1:16cv-7832. The complaint points out that all the other states with election-day registration apply that policy equally to the entire state.
The main defense of the state to the lawsuit seems to be that Harlan should have filed the lawsuit sooner. The law allows small-population counties and cities to use election-day registration, but does not mandate it for small-population jurisdictions, and most of the smaller places are not implementing election-day registration at every polling place. However, the law does mandate that every jurisdiction provide somewhere in the county to register on election day.
Harlan wants an injunction stopping the new law from going into effect. The case is before U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghianyan, a Bush Jr. appointee, who could rule at any time.
Bernie Sanders was on Meet the Press on Sunday, September 4. He was asked his opinion about the Commission on Presidential Debates 15% rule. In response, he said it is “probably too high.” See this story.
The Intercept has posted a 4-minute C-SPAN segment in which Donald Trump criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates for its 15% poll rule for entry into the debates. The segment begins with a statement by Jesse Ventura, who was the Reform Party Governor of Minnesota at the time. The piece also quotes Trump on what he has been saying lately about the 15% rule.
