According to this New York Post story, some persons attending the Republican national convention in Cleveland are altering their hotel reservations to include one or two more days. The official dates of the convention are July 18-21, but if the convention itself takes more than one ballot to choose thew nominee, the convention may not be over on July 21.
This fairly lengthy New York Times story talks about the hopes and plans of Republican Party leaders who are so opposed to Donald Trump that they are thinking of independent candidate activity. Toward the end of the story, Nicholas Sarwark, national chair of the Libertarian Party, is quoted.
This story in the Daily Report, Atlanta’s legal news newspaper, carries reaction from various Georgia public officials about the March 17 decision striking down Georgia’s petition requirement for minor party and independent presidential candidates.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp said, “I have already been in discussion with the attorney general’s office regarding our legal options moving forward. Practically speaking, I do not foresee any issues implementing Judge Story’s ruling this election cycle. This order only affects presidential candidates. It does not affect other candidates seeking public office this year.”
A spokesman for Speaker of the House David Ralston said “no one can recall anyone reaching out to the speaker or his staff regarding ballot access.”
That is very surprising, because there is a bill pending now to ease Georgia ballot access, HB 58. It was introduced in 2015 and has not made any headway. Ironically, Ralston himself, before he was Speaker, was a co-sponsor of an earlier bill to ease ballot access. Thanks to David Gillespie for the link.
CNN has this interesting interview with Ron Paul, on the national Republican convention rule that says only a candidate who has a majority of the delegates in 8 states or territories may be placed in nomination by a nominator speaking from the stage. It is widely believed, without contradiction, that the rule was passed in 2012 to prevent anyone from giving a speech from the podium to nominate Paul.
The briefs in Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Grimes, e.d., 3:15cv-86, are due by April 7. The case is being expedited. The issue is whether the state’s definition of “political party” is too restrictive. In the last 100 years, only four groups, besides the Democratic and Republican Parties, have qualified for party status in Kentucky: the Progressive Party 1924-1928, the American Party 1968-1972, the Anderson Coalition Party 1980-1984, and the Reform Party 1996-2000. The definition is a group that polls at least 2% for President in Kentucky.
Kentucky and Washington state are the only two states in which it is impossible for a group to become a qualified party unless it makes a certain showing in a presidential election. The plaintiffs are the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party.
