Charles Wheelan, founder of the Centrist Project, writes here in U.S. News that the U.S. needs a multi-party system. The article is focused on Michael Bloomberg, and Wheelan makes his larger point toward the end of the article.
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An earlier blog post said that the California Green Party had asked the Secretary of State to list five candidates on its presidential primary ballot. That was mistaken. The California Green Party won’t decide that until January 31.
On January 26, U.S. District Court Yvette Kane will hear Benezet Consulting v Cortes, m.d., 1:16cv-74. The hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Harrisburg. The issues are whether the Pennsylvania ballot access laws that were struck down last year for minor party and independent candidates should also be struck down for petitions to get on a primary ballot.
The three laws struck down last year in Green Party of Pennsylvania v Aichele were: (1) the ban on out-of-state circulators; (2) the ban on a voter signing two petitions for the same office; (3) the requirement that each petition sheet be notarized.
On January 20, the Federal Election Commission released $846,365 in primary season matching funds to Martin O’Malley, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. The previous month, he had received $100,000. See this FEC press release.
On January 22, the Oklahoma Attorney General issued his first opinion of the year. See it here. It says that the 2016 petitions of the Libertarian and Green Parties need signatures of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, not 5%. This conclusion is not surprising. But the Oklahoma Election Board had asked for this ruling. When the party filed its notice to qualify as a party by petitioning, back in early 2015, the law still required 5%. Shortly afterwards, the law was eased to 3%. The opinion says it doesn’t matter what the law was when the party filed its notice; what counts is the law in effect when the petition is submitted.