Kenneth Vogel and Isaac Arnsdorf here write for Politico that the 2016 presidential race, so far, demonstrates that the candidates with the most money don’t always win.
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The Birmingham News has this detailed account of ballot access restrictions in Alabama for new or small political parties. It is by Leigh LaChine, chair of the state’s Libertarian Party. The second half of the article explains the unfair practices this year, as the party tries to obtain political party status in Jefferson County (which includes Birmingham). The petition signature validity-checking procedures are very faulty.
On February 19, the Indiana Election Commission voted 2-2 that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Todd Young, a sitting member of the U.S. House, should be on the Republican primary ballot. See this story. It is possible a lawsuit will be filed to reverse the decision. Challengers to Young’s petition argue that he doesn’t have enough valid signatures in the First U.S. House district. Indiana primary petitions for statewide office need 500 signatures in each U.S. House district.
South Carolina sends 50 delegates to the Republican national convention. The formula for the South Carolina Republican Party’s delegate allocation is that the candidate with the most popular votes wins 29 delegates. Then, the other 21 delegates are apportioned by U.S. House district. South Carolina has seven districts, and each district has three votes. The winner in each district gets three votes. Trump carried all seven districts. See this story.
Marco Rubio carried the state’s most populous county, Richland, which contains Columbia. But Richland County is split into two different districts, and when the vote from the other counties that are included in the two districts that also contain Richland County are factored in, Rubio did not carry any district. So, the candidate who got 32.4% of the popular vote received 100% of the delegates.
On February 19, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party filed this 58-page brief in the First Circuit in Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 15-2068. The issue is the 2014 law that made it illegal for a group to circulate a petition for recognition as a party in an odd year. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law.