On September 1, all the full-time judges of the Sixth Circuit released an order concerning Michigan’s straight-ticket device and whether it should be on the ballot this year. By 9-6, the judges voted not to disturb the device this year. Michigan State A. Philip Randolph Institute v Johnson, 16-2115. Thanks to Bill Hall and Rick Hasen for this news. The case is still alive and will get further along after the election is over.
On September 1, the Libertarian statewide petition was submitted to the New Hampshire Secretary of State. The various towns had already certified the number of valid signatures for each town. The Secretary of State’s office then quickly added up the town results and told the Libertarian Party that the statewide nominees (including president and vice-president) will be on the ballot. The nominee for Governor is Max Abramson; the U.S. Senate nominee is Brian Chabot.
The Green Party will be submitting its presidential petition on September 2. According to the various town clerks, Jill Stein has approximately 4,000 verified signatures, so she will be on as well. Rocky De La Fuente will also be submitting his petition on September 2, and perhaps Evan McMullin will as well. The deadline is September 7.
The Independent Party is a ballot-qualified in Connecticut for all statewide offices except President. In this year’s U.S. Senate race, two factions of the party support different candidates for the party’s U.S. Senate nomination. If they can’t agree, the Secretary of State won’t print anyone on the November ballot as the party’s nominee, and then it will lose its ballot status for the office of U.S. Senate for the 2018 election.
The two major party nominees are incumbent Democrat Richard Blumenthal, and Republican Dan Carter. One faction of the Independent Party wants to also nominate Dan Carter, so that he would be on the November ballot twice, under both the Republican label and the Independent label. This faction of the party is centered in Danbury, where the Mayor is an Independent Party leader even though he is a registered Republican.
The other faction, centered in Waterbury, wants the Independent Party to run its own nominee for U.S. Senate, John R. Price, who is not the nominee of any other party. See this story.
In 2012 the Independent Party nominated Rocky Anderson for President (who was the Justice Party nominee around the remainder of the U.S.). But in the 2012 U.S. Senate race, the Independent Party nominated the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Linda McMahon. Anderson and McMahon had very little in common politically, but that showed the two factions of the Independent Party, at least in 2012, were able to get along with each other. Thanks to Joshua Van Vranken for the link.
On August 31, the Connecticut Secretary of State determined that the Green Party statewide petition is valid. It has nominees for President and U.S. Senate. So far the Connecticut Secretary of State has not finished checking the Libertarian petition or the De La Fuente petition.
The Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record has this op-ed by editorial writer Doug Clark. It criticizes North Carolina ballot access laws that relate to minor parties and independent candidates.
The piece says that Jill Stein is on the ballot in 40 jurisdictions. That is correct, as of August 31, but by election day it will probably be 44, 45, or 46.
