The Tahlequah Daily Press here editorializes that is believes the Democratic Party of Oklahoma acted wisely when it recently decided to let independent voters vote in all its primaries, including the March 1, 2016 presidential primary.
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On August 17, the Oregon Secretary of State released a new voter registration tally, which shows that the Independent Party, for the first time, has enough registered members to qualify for a primary. It needed 5% at that tally and just barely made it. See this announcement from the Secretary of State.
The party has been ballot-qualified since 2007, but, like Oregon’s other parties (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties) has been nominating by convention.
Ironically, the Independent Party will now have a much more difficult time cross-endorsing the nominees of other parties. Parties that nominate by convention are free to nominate anyone who is a nominee of another party. But it is very difficult for two parties that each nominate by primary to nominate each other’s nominees. No one get can on an Oregon primary ballot unless he or she is a registered member of that party. However, Oregon allows write-ins in primaries, so fusion between such parties is not completely banned.
The Independent Party was formed by Oregon voters who wanted to make it easier for independent candidates to get on the general election ballot.
The New York Times says in this analysis that the June 18, 2015 U.S. Supreme Court opinion Reed v Town of Gilbert is having a big impact on other free speech cases in lower courts. The article mentions the recent opinion from U.S. District Court in New Hampshire that struck down a state law making it illegal to photograph one’s own completed ballot and then show the picture to anyone. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.
The Mississippi Secretary of State has rejected the application of the Prohibition Party to be a qualified party. This is an update and reversal to the post of an hour ago. BAN is attempting to learn what was defective in the party’s application.
Level the Playing Field, Peter Ackerman, the Libertarian Party, and the Green Party, sued the Federal Election Commission on June 22, 2015, over general election presidential debates. So far the government hasn’t responded. In an ordinary federal case, the defendant must respond in some fashion by 30 days after the case is filed. But when the federal government is sued, it has 60 days to respond.