Ed Garvey of Madison, Wisconsin, has this op-ed in The Capital Times, arguing that Wisconsin should replace its open primary with a semi-closed or closed primary.
Reply
On August 11, the federal government filed this brief in Tuaua v U.S.A., in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. The issue is whether the Constitution requires that persons born in U.S. possessions be considered citizens. Persons born in American Samoa are considered U.S. nationals, not citizens. The government interprets the Fourteenth Amendment to mean that only individuals born in a state are constitutionally entitled to be considered U.S. citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The plaintiffs argue that persons born in American Samoa are citizens. The federal government disagrees. By statute, Congress has said that persons born in all U.S. possessions except American Samoa are citizens, but Congress has never taken that step for American Samoa.
Under the federal government’s theory, even persons born in the District of Columbia aren’t constitutionally required to be recognized as citizens.
The plaintiffs’ reply brief is due September 8.
On August 16, Montana Democrats, meeting in convention, nominated Amanda Curtis as their nominee for U.S. Senate. She had been elected to the State House in 2012, but she had not running for re-election this year. The party needed a new nominee because the nominee chosen in the party’s June 2014 primary later withdrew. See this story.
Here is a list of Iowa candidates for federal and state office. The Libertarian Party and the New Independent Party of Iowa have candidates on the ballot for most of the statewide offices, and the Libertarian Party also has six legislative candidates. The Green Party has one legislative candidate.
The New Independent Party of Iowa is a new party, with a platform somewhat similar to the Reform Party’s platform. Here is the New Independent Party of Iowa’s web page. Thanks to Nathan Hetzel for the links.
Iowa has no ballot-qualified parties, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. A group only attains qualified status after it has polled 2% for President or Governor. The Green Party had qualified party status 2000-2002, and the Reform Party had it 1996-1998. Otherwise Iowa hasn’t had any ballot-qualified parties, other than the Democrats and Republicans, during the last 40 years.
UPDATE: see this commentary by John Deeth, on the New Independent Party of Iowa.
“The Hill”, one of two publications geared for members of Congress and their staffs, has this article about minor party and independent candidates for the U.S. Senate this year. The article could have mentioned other states, beyond the states it does cover. The only states in which there will be no minor party or independent candidates on the ballot for U.S. Senate this year (in the states that have Senate elections) are Alabama, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. In Alabama, only one candidate for U.S. Senate is on the ballot.
The title of the article is flawed, but the text of the article is better than one would expect from the title.