The Associated Press has released this story, mentioning that the Ohio Libertarian Party has asked for a rehearing in its ballot access case before all the judges of the Sixth Circuit. It is somewhat unusual for the press to pay any attention to a rehearing request, because they are seldom granted.
Both houses of the Oklahoma legislature have now appointed representatives to a conference committee for HB 2134. This is the bill that lowers the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties. The Senate version of the bill also lowers the number of signatures for independent presidential candidates and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties.
The purpose of a conference committee is to work out a common bill that both houses are likely to support. The bill has already passed both houses, but different versions passed in each house. The legislature adjourns May 30.
Cal Newsroom has this story about the American Independent Party, which features the fact that (1) no member of the party is running for any partisan office this year in California; (2) the party has endorsed many statewide Republican candidates and these endorsements appear in the statewide voter pamphlet this year.
The story is flawed because is says that the American Independent Party claims to be the fastest-growing party in California. This sentence is false and the AIP does not make that claim, nor could it, because for the last 16 months, the fastest growing parties in California have been the Peace & Freedom Party and the Libertarian Party.
On May 13, Public Policy Polling released a poll for the North Carolina U.S. Senate race. The results: Democratic incumbent Kay Hagan 38%, Republican Thom Tillis 36%, Libertarian Sean Haugh 11%, undecided 15%. See here for more details. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
North Carolina does not have any other statewide offices on the ballot this year. All the state executive posts are elected in presidential years.
On May 10, former Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey died at the age of 96. See this New York Times obituary. He was John B. Anderson’s vice-presidential running mate in 1980, when the independent ticket got on the ballot in all 50 states and polled 6.61% of the vote.
Anderson set out on his independent candidacy on April 24, 1980, but could not find a suitable vice-presidential candidate until August 27, 1980. The vast majority of states put Lucey on the November ballot, even though Anderson’s ballot access petitions had circulated with stand-ins. The Anderson-Lucey ticket won lawsuits against Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida, to force state election officials to print Lucey’s name on the ballot instead of the stand-ins. Thanks to J. David Gillespie for the link.
