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.
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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.
U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler, a Bush Jr. appointee, will hear Greater Birmingham Ministries v Alabama, 2:15cv-2193, n.d., on Thursday, February 11. This case was filed on December 2, 2015, and challenges Alabama’s law requiring voters at the polls to show certain types of government photo-ID.
U.S. District Court Judge Andre Birotte will hold a hearing in Soltysik v Padilla on Monday, March 14, at 10 a.m., in Los Angeles. This is the case on whether California’s law on partisan labels on ballots is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs are registered Socialists, but if they run for partisan office, the ballot says “Party preference: none” next to their names. They want a label that says, “Party preference: Socialist.”
The Kentucky Democratic presidential primary ballot will list four names. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders qualified by demonstrating that they are already on the ballot in at least 20 other state primary ballots. Martin O’Malley qualified by showing that he has qualified for primary season matching funds. Rocky De La Fuente qualified by submitting 5,000 signatures. He turned in more than 10,000 signatures to meet that standard.
There is no Republican presidential primary in Kentucky this year. Instead the party will use a caucus.