Jim Hedges, Prohibition Party Nominee, is on Ballot in Arkansas

Posted on by October 1, 2015
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The Arkansas Secretary of State’s office has determined that the petition to place Jim Hedges on the November 2016 ballot as a presidential candidate is valid. This is the first time a Prohibition Party petition for a presidential nominee has succeeded since 1996. Although the party’s nominee for president appeared in a handful of states in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012, in all those four elections all the states in which the party qualified did not require a petition (Florida, Louisiana, Colorado).

In 1996 the party completed petitions in Tennessee and Utah.

Hedges used the independent petition procedure, not the procedure for a minor party that wants to be on for President only. So his ballot label in Arkansas will be “independent.”

North Carolina Governor Signs Bill for a March Primary for All Office

Posted on by October 1, 2015
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On September 30, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed HB 373, the bill that moves the non-presidential primary from May to March, and moves the presidential primary from February to March.

As a result, candidates for partisan office (other than President) in the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties have a December 1 deadline to pay their filing fees and file a declaration of candidacy for a party primary. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.

New York Times Calls on New York Legislature to Abolish Fusion

Posted on by October 1, 2015
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The October 1 New York Times has this editorial, suggesting that the New York legislature abolish fusion. The editorial does not mention that in 1912, the state’s highest court, the State Court of Appeals, ruled that the state constitution prevents the state from abolishing fusion. The State Constitution has been replaced since 1912 with a newer Constitution, and it is not known if the same provisions in the 1912 Constitution relevant to this are still in today’s Constitution.

Newspaper Describes Seven Active Canadian Minor Parties

Posted on by September 30, 2015
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The National Post, a leading daily newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has this article about seven minor parties active in the October 2015 election. They include the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Pirate Party, organizations that also exist in the U.S. It is interesting to compare the platforms of those Canadian parties with the platforms of their counterparts in the U.S.