On August 18, Florida informed the U.S. Supreme Court that it doesn’t intend to file a response in Polelle v Byrd, 25-147. This is the case filed by an independent voter who is seeking the ability to vote in partisan primaries. Florida now has closed primaries. The Democratic Party of Florida has been thinking about inviting independents to vote in Democratic primaries, but so far hasn’t decided.
On August 20, the California Supreme Court refused to hear Strickland v Weber, S292490. This is the lawsuit filed by some California Republican legislators. They charged that the bills going through the California legislature cannot be passed as quickly as they are passing.
Eric Adams, incumbent Mayor of New York City, is running for re-election in November 2025 as an independent candidate. He submitted two petitions, one with the label “Safe and Affordable” and one with the label “End Anti-Semitism”. Both petitions had enough valid signatures. But the Board of Elections said he must withdraw one of them, because they interpret the law to prohibit an independent from being on the ballot twice (one for each label).
Adams says that is unfair, because Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani is on the ballot twice, with his labels being “Democratic” and “Working Families.” He may sue. In the meantime it is reported that he will choose to be on the ballot with the “Safe and Affordable” label.
US democracy continues to deteriorate with this news.
On August 19, the Colorado Libertarian Party released an invitation to major party candidates to sign a pledge on certain political issues. Major party candidates who sign the pledge with then avoid having a Libertarian Party opponent. See this story.
There is nothing about this so far on the Colorado Libertarian Party’s website.
