The San Diego Free Press has this very detailed analysis of the ideas of Ellen Brown. She is the Green Party candidate for California Treasurer.
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On May 8, the Oklahoma House rejected the Senate’s amendments to HB 2134, and asked for a Conference Committee so that both houses can agree on a common version of the bill. HB 2134 is the bill that lowers the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5% of the last vote cast, to 2.5%. The Senate had agreed with that idea and both houses had passed the bill. But the Senate, when it passed the bill, added some amendments, which the House does not agree with.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s web page has unofficial election returns here (this particular link is to the statewide offices). They show that each of the three minor party declared write-in candidates for statewide office received the needed 500 write-in votes to be nominated.
For the Green Party, Anita Rios for Governor received 628 write-ins. For the Libertarians, Kevin Knedler received 716 for Secretary of State, and Bob Bridges received 731 for Auditor. Assuming these returns hold up in the official tally, all three candidates will be on the November ballot.
The two parties might have had more write-in candidates in their own primary, but for the restrictive law that requires write-in candidates to file a declaration of candidacy 72 days before the primary. There is no rational need for such a deadline to file as a declared write-in, and most states have a write-in declaration of candidacy deadline within a month of election day. In some states the deadline is the Friday before the election.
Current Ohio law requires a party to poll 2% for Governor, if it wishes to remain ballot-qualified for 2015 and 2016. The Green Party thus has a fair chance to meet this standard. It is always conceivable that in 2015, the Ohio legislature will amend the definition of “party” so that the vote test applies to any statewide partisan office, so the Libertarian showing for Secretary of State and Auditor may yet help the Libertarians to remain ballot-qualified beyond 2014 as well. Thanks to Tom Yager for pointing out that the write-in unofficial results are already on the Secretary of State’s web page.
On May 7, a U.S. District Court in Arizona heard Arizona Green Party v Bennett, 2:14cv-375. The lawsuit challenges the February petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties to submit signatures. According to this article, the judge looked askance at the party’s suggestion that if the state doesn’t have enough time to prepare the party’s late-August primary, the party might nominate by convention.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court took this action in 1968, when the American Independent Party submitted its signatures in July, five months after Ohio’s February deadline for newly-qualifying parties. At the time, Ohio required all newly-qualifying parties to participate in the May primary, but the U.S. Supreme Court put the party on the November 1968 ballot even though he had missed the primary.
Lower courts have also invalidated early petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties, in states in which the law said new parties must nominate by primary, in Arkansas, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, and Tennessee. The Arkansas case was won by the Reform Party in 1996, and the judge put the party on the ballot that year even though it had not participated in a primary. The Idaho case was won by the Populist Party in 1984, and the Ninth Circuit put the party on the ballot that year even though it had missed the primary. The Nebraska case was won by the Libertarian Party in 1976 and the U.S. District Court permitted the party’s presidential candidate to appear on the November ballot with the party label, even though the party had not petitioned (instead, the party’s presidential candidate had petitioned as an independent). The Nevada case was won by the Libertarian Party in 1986, and the judge put it on the November ballot even though it missed its primary.
Also, in 1984, the Oklahoma Libertarian Party won a lawsuit against the 3-month petitioning period. By the time the case was won, it was too late for the party to participate in the primary, so the judge let the party nominate by convention and its nominees were put on the November ballot. Also, in 2008, the Libertarian Party was put on the ballot in Ohio by a U.S. District Court, even though it had missed the primary.
In 2011, the California legislature created new classes of methods for dealing with individuals convicted of certain crimes: “Mandatory Supervision” and “Post-Release Community Supervision.” On May 7, a California Superior Court in Alameda County ruled that individuals in those categories may register to vote. The case is Scott v Bowen, RG14-712570.
California law denies persons imprisoned or on parole from registering to vote. The decision interprets these laws not to apply to the two newer categories. This case had been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this year. See the ACLU press release here. The press release has a link to the decision. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.