On August 4, attorneys for the New Hampshire Secretary of State requested, and were granted, an extension of time to respond to the lawsuit Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner. The issue is whether it is constitutional to outlaw petitioning for the party during odd years. The state’s answer had been due August 18, but now it is due September 22.
Kentucky and Kansas both have closed Republican primaries. This year, so far, the two more prominent wins for establishment Republican U.S. Senators have been in Kentucky and Kansas, where incumbents defeated “tea party” Republicans.
By contrast, the two states with the most prominent wins in congressional races for “tea party” Republicans have been in Virginia and Texas, both of which have open Republican primaries.
The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader here reprints an editorial from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, condemning Pennsylvania’s ballot access laws.
Ken Krieger, one of the three candidates for one of the City Council seats in Peoria, Arizona, is about to decide whether to sue election officials for omitting his name from all absentee ballots. See this story. Replacement ballots have been mailed, but the notice with the replacement ballot just said that voters should vote again because one candidate’s name had been omitted from the first ballot. That notice did not even name Krieger. Thanks to Kory Langhofer for the link.
On August 5, Washington state held its fourth top-two primary. No candidate for Congress or any partisan state office, who was not a Democrat or Republican, managed to place first or second, in races that had at least two major party members running. The non-major party candidates who ran in State House races with at least two major party candidates included eight independents, four Libertarians, and one Green. The non-major party candidates who ran in U.S. House races included one Green and twelve independents.
However, there were many State House races in which only one major party candidate ran. For these races, Libertarians ran eight candidates, Socialist Alternative ran one, and independents ran in five districts. Naturally, with only two candidates running, all fourteen of these non-major party candidates placed second and will be on the November ballot.
No minor party or independent candidates ran for any of the 25 State Senate seats.
In the U.S. House races, in November all will have one Democrat running against one Republican, except in the Fourth District, where two Republicans will be on the ballot. This will be the first U.S. House general election in Washington between two members of the same party. Here is a link to the election returns. Washington has no statewide races up this year.
