Rob Horowitz, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, writes here that if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee and Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, it is plausible that a strong candidate will run outside the two major parties.
This article summarizes the lack of activity so far in the North Carolina legislature, over when the presidential primary should be and when the primary for other office should be. The legislature still hasn’t passed a budget, which distracts it from issues like the primary date. If nothing is done, the presidential primary will be in February but if the national party rules are followed, North Carolina will lost most of its delegates to both major party conventions.
The only ballot-qualified party in North Carolina other than the two major parties is the Libertarian Party. It nominates by primary.
Adding to the complexity is that fact that the North Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the state’s U.S. House and legislative district boundaries on August 31, and the Court may invalidate some of the districts. If that happens, it will take time to redraw new lines. See this story, toward the bottom.
For the 2016 presidential election, only six states require more than 25,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot, if one looks at the easiest method to get on the ballot for an independent presidential candidate or the nominee of an unqualified party.
Those six states are California, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas. Illinois requires exactly 25,000.
No one knows exactly what the Pennsylvania 2016 requirement will be, but in both 2008 and 2012 it was less than 25,000. The 2016 number will be determined by the turnout in the November 2015 statewide judicial election. It is also somewhat likely that the Pennsylvania law will be liberalized by the legislature this year.
By contrast, in 1992 there were ten states in which there was no way onto the ballot without a petition or registration drive of more than 25,000. Those four additional states were Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
Professor Lawrence Lessig has met his goal of receiving at least $1,000,000 in contributions and pledges, and will now seek the Democratic presidential nomination. See his web page here. He is campaigning on election law issues, mostly campaign finance, but he also talks about alternative voting systems. His first goal is to establish public funding for congressional candidates.
See this news story.
Alexandria, Virginia elects a Mayor in a partisan election on November 3, 2015. Incumbent Mayor Bill Euille will run for re-election as a write-in candidate, according to this news story. He will make it official on September 7. He must be a write-in candidate because he lost the Democratic primary on June 9, and it is too late to file as an independent candidate.
