On June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, on Ohio’s law making it a crime to make a knowingly false statement about a candidate or a ballot measure. See this analysis by Election Law Professor Rick Hasen about the decision. The lower courts had refused to decide the constitutionality of the law, but the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts, and said they should have adjudicated the case.
Minnesota filing for all federal and state office closed on June 3. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s web page, listing candidates. There are three ballot-qualified parties, Democratic-Farmer-Labor, Republican, and Independence. Candidates running in the primaries of these three parties do not need any petition to get on their own party’s primary ballot. The primary is August 12.
This year, the Independence Party only has 4 candidates for the state legislature, the smallest number since the party first had its own primary, starting in 1996 (during 1996 and 1998, the party’s name was the Reform Party). The party had the highest number of legislative nominees in its history in 2002, the year it elected a State Senator, Sheila Kiscaden. It had 43 legislative nominees that year.
The Independence Party does have a full slate for all the statewide offices this year, and has a contested primary for U.S. Senate and Secretary of State. It has U.S. House candidates in four of the eight districts.
Among the unqualified parties, the Libertarian Party has a full slate of statewide candidates. The Green Party has a candidate for Attorney General, one for U.S. House, and two for State House. The Constitution Party has one for State House. The Grassroots Party has changed its name to “Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party.” It has candidates for Governor/Lt. Governor, and Auditor. There is one statewide independent candidate for Attorney General who has the ballot label “Legal Marijuana Now.” There are no independent candidates for U.S. House or state legislature. Thanks to Oliver Steinberg for this news.
Grist is an on-line magazine that has news about environmental issues and activism. It has existed since 1999 and is centered in Seattle. Grist has this article about Jessica Spear, the only Socialist Alternative Party candidate for any federal or state office this year. Spear is running in the same legislative district which the Socialist Alternative Party contested in 2012. In the 2012 election, the Socialist Alternative Party nominee, Kshama Sawant, polled 29.37% of the vote against her only opponent, Democratic Speaker Frank Chopp.
As was the case in 2012, this year the speaker has no other opponents except the Socialist Alternative Party candidate. Washington state doesn’t permit party labels longer than 15 characters, so both Sawant and Spear are on the ballot as “Socialist Altern”.
This year, Washington state has only one minor party candidate for U.S. House, Green Party candidate Douglas Milholland. Washington state has no statewide offices up this year. There are no minor party candidates for State Senate. For State House, there are twelve Libertarians, and one Green. Seven of the Libertarians are in races in which only two candidates filed for the August 5 primary, so they will automatically be on the November ballot as well, barring an extremely unlikely write-in candidacy in the primary. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
On June 14, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Executive Committee resolved to work for the restoration of write-in space on California general election ballots. Currently, California allows write-ins in non-partisan elections, and in primaries, but not in general elections for Congress and partisan state office. The legislature removed write-in space from those elections in 2012.
California and Louisiana are the only states that ever permitted write-ins in general elections, and then took write-in space away from the voters. Thanks to Diana Shaw for this news.
On June 2, filing closed in Maine for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Here is a link to the list of those candidates, and a link to the list of primary candidates as well. Maine has three ballot-qualified parties, Democratic, Republican, and Green. All three nominate by primary; the primary was on June 10.
The Green Party has 15 candidates for the legislature, the second-highest number in its history; in 2004 it had had 20 candidates and had elected one of them.
There are no minor party candidates for Governor, U.S. Senator, or U.S. House. There are two independent candidates for Governor, none for U.S. Senate, and one in each of the two U.S. House races. Maine has the nation’s most restrictive law for candidates of a small qualified party to get on their own party’s primary ballot. If the law weren’t so restrictive, it is likely that the Green Party would have candidates for some of these offices as well.
Maine will probably be the only state this year with no Libertarian Party candidates for any federal or state office.
