The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this editorial, saying Ohio’s ballot access laws relating to minor parties are “a disgrace.”
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Evan McMullin filed to run for president in Colorado this week, and he listed Nathan Johnson as his vice-presidential running mate. But Johnson is a stand-in. Here is information about him. Thanks to Andy Craig for that link.
Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court in Illinois struck down the law requiring newly-qualifying parties to file a full slate of candidates. The state filed a notice of appeal, but has now asked for an extension of time to file its brief three times. The court has given the state until September 16 to file.
The Colorado Secretary of State has released the list of presidential candidates who are not the nominees of any of Colorado’s five qualified parties. Here is the list. There are 18 names on the list. Each of the five qualified parties will also have a nominee, so that makes 23.
The greatest number of presidential candidates on the general election ballot in the past was 16, in Colorado in 2012 and also in 2008. Colorado requires no petition for president in the general election, just a fee of $1,000. There have been many presidential primary ballots in the U.S. with more than 16 names on a single ballot, especially in New Hampshire.
The Secretary of State had previously released a list on August 5. Between August 5 and August 10, six candidates filed. Those eight who filed in the last five days are: Rocky De La Fuente, Tom Hoefling (America’s Party), Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation), Bradford Lyttle (Nonviolent Resistance/Pacifist), Michael Maturen (American Solidarity), Emidio Soltysik (Socialist Party), Mike Smith, and of course Evan McMullin (whose ballot label will be “unaffilated”).
This post originally said 21 candidates would be on, but it has been re-written because two more were added.
On August 11, both sides in the lawsuit Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates ask U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer to correct one of the errors in her August 5 opinion. The opinion said that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein were alleging that in 2012, President Obama and Mitt Romney themselves decided on the 15% polling threshold. Both sides want the opinion revised to delete this allegation. The 15% rule has always been the product of the Commission itself.
The two sides did not ask Judge Collyer to alter any of her factual errors about which minor party and independent presidential candidates have been on the ballot in states containing a majority of the electoral college. Her opinion omitted Ralph Nader for 2004, but erroneously included Virgil Goode for 2012.