The Ninth Circuit has chosen May, 2016, for oral arguments in two important election law cases: (1) Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 14-15976, over Arizona’s February petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties; (2) Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago, 13-17545, over the Democratic Party’s request for a closed primary for itself.
Fred Barbash has this analysis in the Washington Post of whether courts can entertain challenges to ballot access for possibly ineligible presidential candidates. He finds that such a challenge cannot work in federal courts, but might work in state courts. But the only surefire way to get into court would be for an elections administrator to bar the candidate first, and then of course the candidate could sue in either state or federal court.
According to this story, Rand Paul is about to drop out of the Republican presidential race.
Eleven governors (past or present) sought a major party presidential nomination for the 2016 election, but eight of them have either dropped out or stopped trying to get on presidential primary ballots. By contrast, eight U.S. Senators (past or present) sought a major party presidential nomination, and only three have dropped out. Four Senators (past or present) are doing very well.
The eight governors who declared, and then dropped out or stopped trying to get on ballots, are governors or ex-governors of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Virginia, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Maryland, and New York. The only governors or ex-governors still in the race for a major party nomination are those from Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio (and none of them are doing very well).
The only U.S. Senators who have dropped out are Rand Paul, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Webb. Senators or ex-Senators still in the race are Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Rick Santorum.
Among the three major party presidential candidates who have never held elective office but who are prominent enough to have been included in debates, all three are still running (Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina).
Another ex-Governor who is still running, but who is not seeking a major party nomination, is Gary Johnson, seeking the Libertarian nomination.
On February 2, Hillary Clinton filed approximately 70,000 signatures to get on the New York Democratic presidential primary ballot. The deadline is February 4. Bernie Sanders is expected to file on February 4.
Republicans don’t need petitions to get on the New York Republican presidential primary ballot.
