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Two Independent Presidential Petitions Filed in Kansas

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 3, 2016

August 1 is the Kansas deadline for independent candidate petition deadlines. Two presidential independent petitions were filed: Jill Stein, and Ajay Sood. Here is a link to information about Sood, who lives in Shawnee, Kansas. There is a suggestion in on-line material about him that he was born in India.

The only qualified parties in Kansas are Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian. No group has done a party petition in Kansas since Americans Elect in 2011, and Americans Elect went off the ballot in 2012.

Donald Trump Tells Washington Post That He Doesn’t Want Gary Johnson or Jill Stein in the Debates

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 2, 2016

On August 2, Donald Trump sat for an interview with a Washington Post reporter. Rick Hasen has abstracted out the part of the conversation in which Trump is asked if he wants either or both Gary Johnson and Jill Stein in the debates. Trump said, “No”. See Hasen’s post here.

It is surprising that Trump says that Stein polls better than Johnson. All of the 4-way polls listed for the last few weeks at Real Clear Politics show that Johnson polls ahead of Stein.

County Election Offices in Arizona’s Two Largest Counties Say they Won’t Enforce New Law on Delivery of Voted Absentee Ballots

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 2, 2016

According to this story, election officials in Maricopa County and Pima County, the two most populous counties in Arizona, say they will not enforce a new law that forbids individuals from delivering more than a handful of voted absentee ballots to the elections offices.

Texas Independent Candidate Appears to have Won Special Legislative Election

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 2, 2016

Texas held a run-off legislative election on August 2, for the State House, 120th district, in San Antonio. Here is a link to the county elections web page. So far, the independent candidate, Laura Thompson, is winning over her lone opponent, Democrat Lou Miller. Just now the vote is 635 to 585.

If Thompson wins, she only will be a member of the legislature for the remainder of this year, and the legislature isn’t sitting this year. She wanted to run for the regular term, but she was unable to obtain the signatures of 500 voters who had not voted in the March primary during the short window allowed. By contrast, in the special election, she didn’t need any petition, just a filing fee.

Texas has not elected anyone but Democrats and Republicans to its legislature since 1936. Thanks to Mark P. Jones for this news.

Seven Presidential Petitions Filed in Arkansas

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Richard WingerAugust 2, 2016

August 1 is the Arkansas deadline for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties. Both types of petition need 1,000 signatures.

Independent presidential candidates who filed are: Rocky De La Fuente, Jim Hedges, Thomas Hoefling, and Lynn Kahn. They will have the label “independent”, even though Hedges is the Prohibition Party nominee and Thomas Hoefling is the nominee of America’s Independent Party.

Three unqualified parties who filed the presidential petition are the Constitution Party, the Green Party, and Better for America. They need not identify their presidential nominees until later in the month.

The Libertarian Party has been ballot-qualified in Arkansas since 2015. Thanks to Irv Sutley for this information.