Rick Perry Drops Out of Republican Presidential Candidate, Leaving Just 4 Candidates in September 16 Secondary Debate

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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On September 11, Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican presidential race. He had been one of the five debaters set for the CNN September 16 debate at 6 p.m. That should mean there are now only four candidates in that debate: Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, and Lindsey Graham.

There are eleven candidates in the debate set for the same day at 8 p.m. The irony is that the candidates in the 6 p.m. debate will have more speaking time than the “more important” candidates in the 8 p.m. debate. Those times are Pacific time zone. The debates are in Simi Valley, California.

Mayor of Kingston, New York, Loses Green Party Nomination as Well as Democratic Nomination

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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The Mayor of Kingston, New York, Shayne Gallo, is a Democrat, and he was defeated for re-nomination in the Democratic Party primary held on September 10. But he was also a candidate in the Green Party primary. Election officials will soon reveal whether he got enough write-ins in the Green Party primary to be on the November ballot as the Green nominee. See this story. UPDATE: the Green Party write-ins have now been tallied and Shayne Gallo lost the Green Party primary also. His Democratic opponent, Steve Noble, won the Green primary. See this story.

Illinois Special U.S. House Election Gives Voters Only Two Choices; Turnout is Very Low

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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On Thursday, September 10, Illinois held a special U.S. House election to fill the vacancy in the 18th district. According to this news story, Darin LaHood, the Republican nominee, received 34,907 votes; Robert Mellon, the Democratic nominee, received 15,840 votes. That totals only 50,747 votes, although when the results are official, they will probably be slightly higher.

The last time Illinois held a special U.S. House election, on April 9, 2013, to fill the vacant 2nd district seat, there were six candidates on the ballot: one Democrat, one Republican, one Green, and three independents. The turnout in that election was 83,193 votes cast, significantly better than the September 2015 race. The reason there were alternate candidates on the ballot in 2013 is that a U.S. District Court Judge had struck down the 5% petition requirement for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, as applied to special elections. That case was Jones v McGuffage, a Green Party ballot access victory. Despite the 2013 court victory, Illinois election officials continued to require 5% petitions in the September 2015 race, and no one went to court in 2015 to change that.

Oklahoma On-Line Newspaper “Red Dirt Report” Publicizes Minor Party Petition Drives Underway in Oklahoma

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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The Red Dirt Report, an on-line Oklahoma newspaper established in 2007, has this story about the Libertarian Party’s attempt to get on the 2016 ballot in Oklahoma, and also mentions the Green Party attempt. The story includes a picture of Andy Jacobs, long-time professional petitioner.

The story does not mention the fact that many public libraries in Oklahoma are currently telling petitioners they can’t be on public sidewalks in front of those libraries. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that public sidewalks (with limited exceptions) must be open for First Amendment activity, including petitioning. The Court has been saying this repeatedly since 1939; the first such decision was Hague v CIO, 307 US 496. Jersey City, New Jersey, had promulgated rules prohibiting leafleting on city sidewalks, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Jersey City rules.