Atlanta Progressive News has this story about the March 17 decision in the Georgia ballot access case.
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On March 17, U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story, a Clinton appointee, ruled that the Georgia petition requirement for independent presidential candidates and the presidential candidates of unqualified parties is unconstitutional. The judge imposed a temporary requirement of 7,500 signatures for 2016 only, until the legislature acts. The old law required approximately 50,334 signatures. The case is Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, n.d., 1:12cv-1822. The decision is 80 pages.
The decision only applies to the candidate petition for president. However, in Georgia, candidate petitions can include a ballot label other than just “independent”, so in effect the decision includes minor parties as well as independent candidates.
The plaintiffs, the Green Party and the Constitution Party, filed this lawsuit in 2012. The state says it will probably appeal, but it will not try to obtain a stay.
According to this story, there are so many initiatives circulating in California now that professional petitions are getting $3 per signature, and sometimes even more. One wonders why more people don’t sign up to do this work.
On Wednesday, March 23, the Oklahoma House Elections Committee will hear SB 896, the bill that eases the definition of “political party”. The bill changes the vote test for a party to remain on from 10% to 2.5% (for the office at the top of the ticket, Governor/President, depending on what year it is). Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
Jill Stein, who is seeking the Green Party presidential nomination, believes she qualified for primary season matching funds in January, and forwarded all the documentation to the Federal Election Commission late in January. However, the FEC still hasn’t made a determination about whether she has qualified. The Jill Stein campaign, and the Green Party, so far have avoided any public criticism over the delay. However, the delay is very injurious to the Green Party. The FEC permits primary season matching funds to be used for ballot access petitioning. The delay is holding up Green Party petitioning.