Law Professor Derek T. Muller has this op-ed in the May 19 Detroit news. Muller criticizes state laws that restrict the ability of various categories of people from circulating petitions.
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On May 19, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Free Speech v Federal Election Commission, 13-772, a campaign finance case. This older blog post explains the issue in the case.
The May 18 Providence Journal has this op-ed in favor of HB 8072, the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device. It is authored by Rhode Island’s independent State Senator Ed O’Neill. Straight-ticket devices are especially harmful to independent candidates. In Rhode Island, the usual term for the straight-ticket devise is the “master lever.” That terms harks back to the says of mechanical voting machines.
On May 18, Frank Morano, host of “The Answer”, a radio station broadcast on AM 970 in New York city, aired a 26 minute interview with Dick Lamm. The interview is 26 minutes long. At minute 20, Lamm talks about his experience seeking the Reform Party nomination for president in 1996, although not in much detail. Most of the interview deals with Lamm’s ideas on policy and our national problems. Lamm is now age 78.
Former New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on Face the Nation on May 18. He said an independent can never be elected President because there are too many voters who will never consider abandoning their favorite major party’s nominee. See this story.
He might have also mentioned that Article Two of the U.S. Constitution says that if no one gets a majority in the electoral college, then the U.S. House chooses the president, with each state’s delegation getting one vote. The members of the U.S. House would probably not be likely to vote for someone other than their own party’s nominee.