Politico has this story about the Jill Stein for President campaign, with observations about how her campaign and the Gary Johnson campaign affect each other.
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Rocky De La Fuente, independent presidential candidate, has recently sued Oklahoma over its petition requirement for independent presidential candidates. The law requires 40,047 valid signatures by July 15. No one has completed this type of petition in Oklahoma since 1992, when Ross Perot did it. Oklahoma is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot in any of his presidential runs.
The original De La Fuente case against Oklahoma was filed on May 31, but it sued the wrong defendant. An amended complaint, suing the correct defendant, was filed on June 14. The case is De La Fuente v Ziriax, w.d., 5:16cv-583.
Constitutional election law cases filed by minor parties or independent candidates are pending in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Garrett Epps has this essay in The Atlantic, on how two recent actions of the U.S. Supreme Court make it very clear that the U.S. overseas territories are no more than colonies of the United States. Thanks to HowAppealing for the link.
The New York legislature adjourned for the year on June 17, without having passed even the simplest bills to improve the appearance of the ballot, which is one of the most confusing ballots in the United States. There were at least twelve such bills: A3218, A5622, A5729, A3389, A4147, A5306, A5729, S2154, S2329, S2841, S3953, S7086. They increased the font size for the names of candidates, provided for rotation of names, provided that the ballot could expand to more than a single piece of paper, eliminated party emblems, and made other design improvements.
Also, the legislature didn’t pass any bills to eliminate the absurd characteristic that New York has three partisan primaries in presidential election years: a presidential primary in April, a congressional primary in June, and a state & local office primary in September.
Nor did the legislature pass any bill to ease the strict deadline for voters to switch parties, which is in the year before the primary.
On the other hand, no bill making ballot access worse passed either.
On June 17, the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties asked U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel to put them on the November ballot with no further need for any legal briefs. Last month Judge Stengel had deferred to the 3rd Circuit on whether to grant such relief. His rationale was that the 3rd Circuit was still deliberating whether or not he had been correct when he struck down the Pennsylvania ballot access scheme. But then, on June 2, the 3rd Circuit had affirmed Judge Stengel’s earlier decision on the constitutional issue.
The brief outlines all the instances in the past when courts have put minor parties or independent candidates on the ballot without a petition, after various ballot access restrictions had been struck down. Even if you don’t normally read legal briefs, consider reading this one, especially the second half. The brief is twenty pages, followed by a short proposed order.