Anti-Trump Republicans Finds a Presidential Nominee

Posted on by August 9, 2016
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On August 8, a group of anti-Trump Republicans said they have found a presidential candidate. He is Evan McMullin, chief policy director for the House Republican Conference (until he resigned recently). Better for America, a group that is independent of the McMullin campaign but which is likely to nominate him, has only petitioned in two states already: New Mexico rejected its petition saying it lacked 145 valid signatures; the Arkansas petition is still being checked. If the McMullin campaign has the resources to complete petition drives very quickly, it could still petition for McMullin in almost half the states. See this story about McMullin. It is not known if McMullin will sue the states with deadlines that are in May, June, and July, but those deadlines are vulnerable to legal challenge.

UPDATE: see this story.

FURTHER UPDATE: see this story.

Ohio State Appeals Court Strikes Down Law Regulating Campaign Signs

Posted on by August 7, 2016
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On July 21, the Ohio State Court of Appeals, 10th district, struck down an Ohio election law that regulates campaign literature. The law is R.C. 3517.21(B)(1), which says, “No person, during the course of any campaign for nomination or election to public office, shall use the title of an office not currently held by a candidate in a manner that suggests that the candidate does currently hold that office or use the term ‘re-elect’ when the candidate has never been elected to the office.”

Here is the 23-page decision, Magda v Ohio Elections Commission, 14AP-929. The decision is based on the free speech part of the First Amendment. The decision says that if a candidate posts a sign that says, “(name of candidate), (name of office), when that candidate doesn’t hold that office, it is true that a reader might think that candidate is the incumbent. But it says that free speech even protects untrue speech, and in any event it is easy for an opponent of that candidate, or anyone, to point out that the candidate is not the incumbent. In this case, the candidate who put up a sign saying “Kathy Magda, Ashtabula County Treasurer” (even though she wasn’t the treasurer; she was just running for that office) did not intend to deceive anyone. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Useful Associated Press Article on How the Electoral College Works

Posted on by August 7, 2016
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The Associated Press has this article on how the Electoral College works. The article has many useful details that are not generally known. It is encouraging that there seems to be greater awareness this year, than in a normal presidential election year, that the electors, not the voters, choose the president. If everyone understood that, no one would think that sore loser laws relate to the presidential election.

Rocky De La Fuente and Jill Stein Will be Co-Plaintiffs in New Oklahoma Ballot Access Lawsuit

Posted on by August 7, 2016
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Rocky De La Fuente’s ballot access lawsuit against the Oklahoma presidential petition was dismissed on July 29 for inactivity, but an experienced ballot access attorney expects to re-file the case on August 8. Jill Stein will also be a plaintiff. Oklahoma requires an independent presidential candidate, or the presidential nominee of an unqualified party, to submit 40,047 valid signatures by July 15. Yet the state requires substantially fewer signatures for new parties. They need 24,745 valid signatures. Another strange characteristic of Oklahoma law is that an independent candidate for an office other than President needs no petition at all, just a filing fee. The U.S. Supreme Court said in Anderson v Celebrezze that states must go easier on independent presidential candidates than independent candidates for other office.