Jason Dore, executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, and Stephen Handwerk, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, have this column in The Advertiser, daily newspaper in Lafayette, Louisiana. The column explains how federal campaign finance laws inhibit state political parties. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.
On July 21, 2014, the California State Appeals Court, Third District, again ruled that the Secretary of State does not have the duty to check the qualifications of presidential candidates before placing them on the ballot. Dummett v Bowen, C073763. Here is the six-page decision.
The decision mentions the Ninth Circuit opinion Lindsay v Bowen, 750 F.3d 1061 (2014), which says that the Secretary of State may keep presidential candidates off the ballot if she believes they do not meet the constitutional qualifications. But the Dummett decision says that while the Secretary of State may have the power to exclude unqualified presidential candidates, it does not follow logically that she must therefore investigate those qualifications. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On August 4, independent gubernatorial candidate Michael Myers of South Dakota filed a federal lawsuit against the Secretary of State. The purpose of the lawsuit is to let Myers replace his original Lieutenant Governor running mate with a new candidate. The South Dakota law lets qualified parties make such substitutions, but does not have the same flexibility for independent candidates. Myers v Gant, 4:14cv-4121. The case was assigned to Judge Lawrence Piersol, a Clinton appointee.
The original Lieutenant Governor candidate, named on the petition, initially expected to stay on the ticket, but her personal circumstances changed.
The Florida legislature will reconvene this week to work on new U.S. House districts. See this story. The story does not say how the legislature will deal with the problem that candidate qualification has already closed for this year’s primaries, which are on August 26. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On August 4, Gravis Polls released Wisconsin poll results. The only minor party or independent candidate included in any of the Wisconsin polls is the State Treasurer’s race. The results: Republican Randy Melchert 39%, Democrat Dave Leeper 31%, Green Party nominee Ron Hardy 12%, undecided or other 18%. See here.
There are also Libertarian and Constitution Party nominees for that office. The pollsters probably decided to include Hardy because he is a Winnebago County Supervisor. He was elected in 2012 and has already been re-elected in 2014. The office is non-partisan. Thanks to Michael for the link.
