Early in December 2015, the Virginia Republican Party decided that voters who ask for a Republican presidential primary ballot in March 1, 2016, must sign below a statement that says, “My signature below indicates I am a Republican.” See this story. Virginia does not have registration by party.
Some years ago the party considered asking voters in its primaries to sign below a statement that the voter intends to vote Republican in the upcoming general election, but that idea was dropped.
The Huffington Post has this interesting interview with Larry Sanders, brother of Bernie Sanders. Larry Sanders lives in Oxford, England, and was a Green Party nominee for Parliament in the 2015 election. Larry Sanders says, “It’s unlikely but not impossible” that his brother will win the Democratic nomination in July 2016. Larry Sanders also predicts that if Bernie Sanders is the Democratic nominee, then he will win the election.
This Bloomberg News story says Jim Webb recently criticized Hillary Clinton’s performance as Secretary of State. The story then talks about the possibility of Webb declaring as an independent presidential candidate.
It is not clear why the story talks about Ralph Nader’s 2000 run as involving “fractions of a percent.” Nader received more than 1% of the vote in every state in which he was on the ballot, in 2000, except Mississippi (.83%) and Tennessee (.95%). His best percentage was in Alaska, where he got 10.10%. Also the story says South Dakota has the earliest independent presidential deadline, and quotes me for saying that. I am quoted correctly but I was mistaken; the South Dakota independent presidential deadline is in August. UPDATE: the story has been corrected.
Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush is seeking his 13th term next year. In Illinois, candidates need petitions to appear on a primary ballot. Rush needs 1,314 valid signatures for the March 2016 primary. He submitted 3,100, but one of his Democratic opponents, Alderman Howard Brookins, challenged the Rush petition. On December 17, employees of the Board of Elections checked the signatures and found that Rush has 1,407 valid signatures, so he had 93 more signatures than he needed. However, that is a validity of only 45.4%.
The challenger still has an opportunity to contest the findings, but Rush will probably prevail.
Rush is perhaps most famous as the only individual who ever defeated Barack Obama in an election for public office. In 2000, Obama, then a State Senator, ran against Rush for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House seat, but Rush won the primary.
According to the Green Party’s webpage, the 2016 presidential convention will likely be August 6-7. This is the latest the Green Party has ever held a presidential convention. In the past it has always been in June or July.
The 2016 Democratic national convention will be July 25-28.
