Ohio Libertarian Party asks for Rehearing and also Recusal of One Judge in Sixth Circuit Ballot Access Case

Posted on by December 14, 2015
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On Sunday, December 13, the Ohio Libertarian Party asked for a rehearing in the part of its ballot access case that is pending in the Sixth Circuit. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 15-4270. The Sixth Circuit last week ruled that procedural obstacles stand in the way of that court’s acting in the lawsuit at this time. One of the three judges who made that ruling is Judge Alice Batchelder.

The petition for rehearing argues that the panel was mistaken about the procedural issue. It also argues that Judge Batchelder should recuse herself because she is married to Ohio state representative William Batchelder, who was one of the sponsors of SB 193, the ballot access bill passed in 2013 that is the object of the lawsuit. Representative Batchelder was speaker of the Ohio House at the time. Judge Alice Batchelder was appointed a U.S. District Court Judge by President Ronald Reagan, and to the Sixth Circuit by President George W. Bush.

The part of the case that is in the Sixth Circuit argues that the ballot access bill violates the Ohio Constitution. The U.S. District Court is still considering another part of the case, over whether the 2014 actions of Ohio officials, when they kept the Libertarian Party’s candidate for Governor off the Libertarian primary ballot, were unlawful because of discriminatory enforcement of the law. The law, requiring paid petitioners who believed themselves to be independent contractors, said paid petitioners had to identify their employer on the petition. The law had never before been used to disqualify any candidate or any ballot measure from the ballot.

Arkansas Files Brief, Explaining State Interest in Requiring Qualified Minor Parties to Nominate All Candidates a Year Before the Election

Posted on by December 13, 2015
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On December 11, Arkansas filed its brief in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Martin, e.d., 4:15cv-635. The issue is a new law that says qualified minor parties (which nominate by convention) must nominate all their candidates for public office, except President and Vice-President, at least one year before the general election. No state has ever before required any type of party to nominate its candidates in the year before a November general election.

Arkansas major parties choose all their non-presidential nominees at their primaries on March 1, 2016, almost four months later. The state only cites one precedent to justify this discriminatory practice. In 1988, the Missouri Libertarian Party was late submitting its candidates for presidential elector, which were supposed to be listed on the party’s ballot access petition but which weren’t. The party handed in its presidential elector candidates several days after the petition deadline. The party then sued, saying it should not be required to submit its presidential elector candidates earlier than the qualified parties were required to submit them. The party lost in U.S. District Court and in the 8th circuit, although the vote in the 8th circuit was 5-5. That case was Manifold v Blunt.

The state’s brief says the party is not harmed by being required to choose all its nominees by November 9, 2015, at noon. The Arkansas Libertarians did hold a nominating convention by that date and did nominate some candidates, but it wants to nominate many more, and plans to hold another nominating convention in February 2016. The party argues that it takes time to find willing and able candidates, and that there is no state interest whatsoever in requiring the nominations to be made so early.

The state mentions the U.S. Supreme Court American Party of Texas v White, from 1974, which said that it is constitutional for the state to provide primaries only to the major parties, and to provide that smaller qualified parties nominate by convention. But the Texas law did not force the qualified minor parties to hold their conventions before the major party primaries, so it doesn’t support Arkansas’ scheme.

Main Republican Presidential Debate of December 15 Will Include Nine Candidates

Posted on by December 13, 2015
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On Sunday, December 13, CNN announced the names of the nine Republican presidential candidates who qualified for the main stage for the December 15 debate. See this story. Essentially the criteria was to be at 3%. The debate is in Las Vegas. There will also be a subsidiary debate with four other Republican presidential candidates.

American Independent Party Opens its Primary to Independent Voters

Posted on by December 12, 2015
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The American Independent Party, which is on the ballot in California but no other state, will let independent voters vote in its presidential primary in 2016. California law lets each qualified party decide whether or not to invite independents to vote in its presidential primary. The AIP also let independents vote in its presidential primary in 2004 and 2008, but did not do so in 2012.

The AIP will soon finalize the list of presidential primary candidates who will appear on the ballot. Already the party has decided to list Donald Trump and J. R. Myers. Myers is seeking the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party. California presidential primaries are on June 7.

As far as is known, no presidential candidate has ever appeared on the ballot of more than a single party’s presidential primary simultaneously. However, there is no law against it. If the AIP submits the name of Donald Trump to the California Secretary of State, and if Trump does not decline, he would then appear on the presidential primary ballot of both the Republican Party and the AIP.

In 2012, Roseanne Barr’s name was on the Green Party’s presidential primary, but not the Peace & Freedom Party’s primary ballot. However, in August, the Peace & Freedom Party nominated Barr and so her name appeared on the November ballot as the PFP nominee. In 2008, Alan Keyes’ name appeared on the Republican presidential primary ballot, and in November he was listed as the American Independent Party presidential nominee in California. Also in 2008, Ralph Nader’s name appeared on the Green Party presidential primary ballot (which he won), and in November he was listed as the Peace & Freedom nominee.

In California’s 1996 presidential primaries, Ralph Nader was on the Green Party ballot, and he also filed as a write-in in the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom primaries. He received 6,599 votes in the Democratic primary, 1,441 in the Republican primary, 187 in the Peace & Freedom primary, and 115 in the Libertarian primary. His Green primary total was 22,649.

Donald Trump’s name appeared on the California Reform Party presidential primary in 2000. He won that primary with 15,311 votes, defeating George D. Weber (9,390), Robert Bowman (4,879) and John B. Anderson (3,158). The Reform Party national convention that year nominated Pat Buchanan.