The New Hampshire Union-Leader has this editorial, expressing disappointment that the Libertarian Party’s ballot access case lost in U.S. District Court on August 27. The paper is the largest newspaper in the state. It is very likely the Libertarian Party will appeal.
This Montana newspaper story tells the latest events in the Republican Party’s lawsuit against the open primary, as used to nominate candidates for public office.
Earlier this month, Minnesota minor parties created an informal group to work together on ballot access problems, and last week the group met with Secretary of State Steve Simon. The meeting went well and it is likely that Secretary Simon will arrange to have ballot access improvement bills introduced in the 2016 legislature. Minnesota has historically been hospitable to minor parties, and yet ironically Minnesota is one the twelve or thirteen states that has no ballot-qualified parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties.
Other states with no statewide ballot-qualified parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties are Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington. Tennessee is ambiguous and a court will decide whether the Constitution and Green Parties are on the ballot.
Haroon Riaz has written “Pitfalls of the Two-Party System”, concerning the United States, for The Nation blog. Riaz is a Pakistani banker turned writer who blogs for The Nation.
Mark E. Andersen has this story on Daily Kos, about parties that he believes will have a presidential nominee in 2016, or which already have one.
