Missouri Petition Deadline Passes, No Statewide Petitions Submitted

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The Missouri petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates has passed, and no statewide petitions were submitted this year. The biggest office for which a petition was submitted was U.S. House. This means that the only presidential candidates who will be on the November ballot are the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, Constitution, and Libertarian Parties.

The statewide petition requirement is 10,000 signatures. Although Americans Elect collected signatures in Missouri, those signatures were never turned in. The Green Party last petitioned successfully in Missouri statewide in 2006. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news. Presidential candidates who didn’t get on the ballot are free to be declared write-in candidates and their votes will be tallied.

Superior Court Judge in Arizona, Seeking a Libertarian Nomination, is Challenged in Court

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Coconino County, Arizona, Superior Court Judge Joe Lodge is a declared write-in candidate in the Libertarian primary, running for re-election. He was originally elected as a Democrat some years ago. His attempt to run for re-election as a Democrat this year was thwarted when his declaration of candidacy to run in the Democratic primary was ruled invalid, because he forgot to specify which seat he was seeking.

He then filed as a write-in candidate in the Libertarian primary. But now his Democrat opponent has filed a lawsuit, saying he can’t be a candidate in the Libertarian Party primary because he tried and failed to get on the Democratic Party ballot. The new lawsuit seems illogical. Judge Lodge isn’t a “sore loser” because he didn’t lose the Democratic primary; he failed to run. Arizona does have a law that says a candidate who attempts to petition and has a petition failure can not then run as a write-in, but that law logically cannot apply because he isn’t running in the Democratic primary as a write-in; he has entered an entirely new race, the race for the Libertarian nomination. See this story.

Michigan Libertarian Party Files Brief in Ballot Access Case

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On August 2, the Michigan Libertarian Party filed its brief in the federal lawsuit, challenging the Secretary of State’s decision that Gary Johnson’s name cannot be on the November ballot because his name also appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot in February. Here is the brief. The case is Libertarian Party of Michigan v Johnson, eastern district, 2:12-cv-12782.

Aspen, Colorado, Still Resists Efforts by Marilyn Marks to See 2011 Ballots

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Marilyn Marks is an activist concerned about the accuracy of vote-counting machines. She has been fighting for years to force the city of Aspen, Colorado, to let her see ballots from recent city elections. Even though she did win that fight earlier around the 2009 ballots, and even though she won on the merits, she is still being blocked from seeing the 2011 ballots, according to this story. The legislature this year changed the state Open Records law to include old ballots. Of course, when she or anyone looks at old ballots, there is no way for the viewer to know which voter cast which ballot. Examining the ballots enables a hand re-count to be conducted.

Three Statewide Minor Party Petitions Filed in Pennsylvania

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The only statewide petitions submitted in Pennsylvania this year are from the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties. Here is a story that says the Greens submitted 35,000 signatures. Some were turned in on July 31 and some on August 1, the deadline. The state requires 20,601 signatures.

The Constitution Party turned in 34,000 signatures; the Libertarian Party turned in 42,000 signatures.