Green Party: Stein Won’t Simply Step Aside to Let Bernie Run

Posted on by July 10, 2016
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Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s campaign said Saturday that it has asked repeatedly to meet with Bernie Sanders to discuss collaborating to “build a progressive revolution” in the United States, but it denied ever having Stein step aside to give Sanders the presidential nomination.

“We have said we were willing to discuss a variety of cooperative approaches, including the possibility of creating a united ticket,” campaign co-chair Gloria Mattera said in a statement through email. “At no point, however have we simply offered that we would just step aside and give the presidential nomination of the Green Party to Senator Sanders without serious discussions of issues and strategies.”

However, Sanders is expected to end his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination within days. Earlier this week, Stein told The Guardian newspaper that she would be willing to step aside and let him take her place.

But on Saturday, Mattera’s statement indicated that the decision over the eventual nominee ultimately rests in the hands of the delegates at the Green Party’s convention, being held in Houston from Aug. 4-7, and most delegates are already pledged to Stein.

Read more at Newsmax

South Dakota Constitution Party Uses State Convention to Nominate Candidates that Normally Must Use Primary

Posted on by December 21, 2016
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The Constitution Party is ballot-qualified in South Dakota. However, under the law, the state won’t recognize party nominees for Congress or legislature who are nominated by convention, even though all parties can nominate for certain other partisan offices by convention. Nevertheless, on June 9, the Constitution Party did hold its state convention and it did nominate a potential candidate for U.S. Senate and one for the legislature.

The pending ballot access lawsuit will determine if the party’s nominees for those two offices will be printed on the November ballot. The lawsuit challenges the March 29 petition deadline for parties who want to be able to nominate for Congress and state legislature. Already the judge in the case has suggested that there is no state interest in requiring newly-qualifying parties to nominate by primary for those offices. She said that last month when she denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

The Constitution Party’s convention action is very beneficial to the pending lawsuit. If neither plaintiff political party were to hold conventions and nominate for such offices this year, that might delay the lawsuit outcome.

Pennsylvania Election Officials Agree that 5,000 Signature Petition for Statewide Minor Party and Independent Candidates Applies to All Groups, Not Just the Three Parties in the Lawsuit

Posted on by July 9, 2016
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On July 7, Pennsylvania election officials said that the 2016 statewide petition requirement (5,000 signatures) for minor party and independent candidates will be in effect for every group and candidate, not just the three parties that were involved in recent litigation (Constitution, Green, and Libertarian).

Australia Parliamentary Election of July 2

Posted on by July 9, 2016
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Australia held a parliamentary election on July 2. It appears no party won a majority in the House, although this is not yet certain, because the votes are still being counted. See this wikipedia article about the election.

Also, see this news story, which says that almost one-fourth of the voters voted for a party other than the two major parties. Thanks to Jack Dean for that link.

Democratic National Committee Sued by Some Democrats Who Say Party Broke Its Own Rules and Was Not Neutral in Presidential Nomination Race

Posted on by July 9, 2016
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On June 28, 2016, 120 Democrats filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, charging that the committee broke its own rules and helped Hillary Clinton win the Democratic presidential nomination, instead of being neutral. The plaintiffs include 104 individuals who contributed to Bernie Sanders, 7 individuals who contributed to the Democratic National Committee, and 9 individuals who are registered Democrats. The case is Wilding v DNC Services Corporation, southern district of Florida, 0:16cv-61511.

The plaintiffs request that the lawsuit be considered a class action. The Complaint says that evidence that the DNC was not neutral is available because two groups of hackers from Russia broke into the party’s computer network a year ago, and then some of the documents were posted to a website called Guccifer 2.0. The case is assigned to Judge William J. Zlock, a Reagan appointee.