The Fourth Circuit will hear Sarvis v Alcorn, 15-1162, on Tuesday, May 10. The issue is that Virginia law that always puts the Democratic and Republican nominees on top on general election ballots. The U.S. District Court had upheld the law on the grounds that the government has an interest in strengthening the two largest parties against all competition. The plaintiff, Rob Sarvis, was the Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. Senate in 2014. The hearing is in Richmond.
Lawsuits are pending in both federal court and state court over whether Ohio voters who are 17-years old, and who will be 18 by November 8, can vote in the presidential primary. This story describes the state court hearing held March 10. Decisions in both cases are expected soon. The Ohio primary is March 15.
Plunderbund, an Ohio politics blog since 2005, has this story linking John Kasich’s elimination of his Libertarian opponent for Governor in 2014 to Kasich’s own petition troubles this month in Pennsylvania. Kasich’s campaign admits it didn’t submit enough valid signatures in Pennsylvania to be on the Republican presidential primary. Whether he appears on the Pennsylvania ballot depends on whether the challenge to his petition was submitted on time or not. A court ruling is expected soon. The challenger filed the challenge at 5:13 p.m. on the last day for challenges. The law does not say the challenge must be filed by 5 p.m. but Kasich argues that it implies 5 p.m.
The election returns for the March 1, 2016 Massachusetts Green Party presidential primary have been posted on the Secretary of State’s web page. The results are: Jill Stein 768; Sedinam Moyowasifa-Curry 78; Darryl Cherney 54; Kent Mesplay 37; William Kreml 24; write-ins 436; uncommitted slate 199.
Four years ago in the Massachusetts Green Party primary, the results were: Jill Stein 1,018; Kent Mesplay 89; Harley Mikkelson 84; write-ins 95; uncommitted slate 232.
Probably the overwhelming bulk of 2016 write-ins are for Bernie Sanders, but Massachusetts election officials don’t tally write-ins in presidential primaries unless the total number of write-ins exceeds the number of votes cast for the highest vote-getting candidate who was on the ballot.
The group of Republican donors and activists who want an independent presidential candidate to enter the race have determined that their best hope is to persuade Condoleezza Rice to be that independent. See this story.
Rice was born in 1954, and is seven years younger than Hillary Clinton and eight years younger than Donald Trump. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
