| Page 3008

Level the Playing Field Asks U.S. District Court to Order FEC to Re-evalulate Commission on Presidential Debates

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Richard WingerApril 11, 2016

On April 6, Level the Playing Field filed this brief in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. It asks the court to instruct the Federal Election Commission to enforce the campaign finance laws, and rule that the Commission on Presidential Debates must revamp its rules about who can be included in the debates. The case is Level the Playing Field v FEC, 15-cv-1397. Even if you don’t usually read legal briefs, consider reading this brief, because it is clear and easy to understand, and a good read.

Arizona Voters Files Lawsuit to Invalidate March 22 Presidential Primary Results

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Richard WingerApril 11, 2016

An Arizona voter has filed a lawsuit in state court to prevent the March 22 presidential primary election returns from being certified. The lawsuit says the election irregularities were so great, no one can have confidence in the results. See this story.

New York Times Urges Voters to Choose Working Families Party Nominee for Assembly, Special Election, Instead of the Democratic Nominee

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Richard WingerApril 10, 2016

New York hold a special election on April 19 for Assembly, 65th district, in Manhattan. Four parties have nominees: Democratic, Republican, Working Families, and Green. On April 8 the New York Times endorsed the Working Families Party nominee, Yuh-Line Niou.

Five Parties, Other than Democratic and Republican Parties, Have Candidates for Congress or State Office in South Carolina

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Richard WingerApril 10, 2016

On March 30, filing closed in South Carolina for candidates seeking the nomination of a qualified party for Congress, state office, and local partisan office. Besides the Democratic and Republican Parties, these parties will have some nominees for those offices: American, Constitution, Green, Independence, and Libertarian.

All of those parties will nominate by convention. However, South Carolina election law requires candidates seeking a convention nomination to file in advance of the conventions, just as candidates running in a major party primary file. Here is a link to the State Election Commission web page that has the list of candidates.

Bill Bledsoe is seeking the nomination of both the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party for U.S. Senate. South Carolina permits fusion. However, the law says a candidate seeking the nomination of two parties must win both of those nominations, or he or she can’t run in November at all.

The American Party has contested nominations for both U.S. Senate and U.S. House, 5th district.

Qualified parties that will have no nominees this year (unless they nominate someone for President later in the year) are the Labor, United Citizens, and Working Families Parties.

Alaska State Court Hears Democratic Party Lawsuit to Let Independents Run in Democratic Primary

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Richard WingerApril 10, 2016

On April 8, an Alaska state court heard oral arguments in Alaska Democratic Party v State, 1ju-16-533. The Democratic Party had filed this lawsuit on February 22, 2016, saying it wants the ability to let independent candidates seek the Democratic Party nomination. State law says no one except a party member can run for a party nomination.

At the hearing, the state mostly argued the lawsuit should be dismissed on the grounds that the party hasn’t yet changed its bylaws to express the party’s position. The party responds that is because the bylaws can only be changed at the convention, which is in May, and if the lawsuit must wait, that will make it difficult to implement the new policy in time for the August 2016 primary. See this story.