New York State Board of Elections Removes Rocky De La Fuente and Lynn Kahn from Ballot

Posted on by September 16, 2016
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On September 15, the New York State Board of Elections removed two independent presidential candidates from the ballot. They removed Rocky De La Fuente because they believe his petition was filed one day too late. They removed Lynn Kahn because her petition was far from having 15,000 raw signatures. Neither candidate had been challenged. But in New York, the State Board of Elections removes candidates if it is obvious that they don’t meet the requirements, even if no challenge is filed.

The Board also determined that the Women’s Equality Party presidential nominee is Hillary Clinton, not Lynn Kahn. Two factions of the party had submitted different presidential nominees.

New York will only have four presidential candidates for President on its ballot. This is the fewest number of presidential candidates in the general election in New York since 1964, when there were also just four.

Evan McMullin Steps up Criticism of Florida Secretary of State

Posted on by September 15, 2016
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Evan McMullin, independent presidential candidate, is quoted in this news story as saying corruption is to blame for last week’s decision by the Secretary of State to keep him off the ballot. McMullin has been treated unfairly in several states, but only now he is speaking out about unfair ballot access laws.

Unfortunately, the press in Florida doesn’t seem to report that the same Florida Secretary of State, Kenneth Detzner, ruled on September 1, 2011, that the requirement that qualified parties must be recognized by the FEC as “national committees” cannot be enforced. Detzner changed his mind last week, on the very eve of ballot-printing deadlines, leaving the affected parties almost no time to find an attorney and file a lawsuit.

Precedents that States Cannot Add New Ballot Access Restrictions at the Last Minute

Posted on by September 15, 2016
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Courts, and election officials, over the past few decades have generally found that it violates due process for states to impose new ballot access barriers right in the middle of the season in which groups and candidates are trying to get on the ballot. This 6-page declaration written by me lists these good precedents. This blog is being posted to be of assistance to any attorneys or others who are fighting attempts by various states to impose new ballot access barriers shortly before qualifying deadlines.