South Dakota Secretary of State Says Independent Candidates are Not Permitted for Lesser State Executive Spots

Posted on by July 1, 2014
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On June 30, the South Dakota Secretary of State ruled that independent candidates are not permitted to run for statewide executive positions other than Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The basis for the ruling is statutory interpretation. The officials who made the ruling don’t seem to be aware that in 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Storer v Brown, 415 US 724, at page 745, that states must permit independent candidates to run for any partisan office.

The matter arose in South Dakota when Joy Howe told the Secretary of State that she wishes to run as an independent candidate for Secretary of State, and asked for information about the procedures.

Washington Times Covers Libertarian Party Election for National Chair

Posted on by July 1, 2014
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The Washington Times here covers the Libertarian Party’s election for national chair. The convention was held in Columbus, Ohio. It is somewhat unusual for large newspapers to cover such news, unless the convention happens to be in that newspaper’s home city. The Times notes that the new chair, Nicholas Sarwark, is 34 years old, and relates this to the party’s determination to court younger voters.

Here is a Libertarian Party press release about the officers. Sarwark is an attorney, a public defender, and a resident of Colorado.

Mississippi Pundit Predicts Legislature Will Pass a Bill Letting Parties Close their Primaries

Posted on by July 1, 2014
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Bill Crawford, a writer for the Mississippi Business Journal, predicts in this column that the legislature will pass a bill letting parties close their primaries. The Mississippi Business Journal is a weekly print publication and is on-line also, and is published in Jackson.

The Mississippi legislature customarily meets in the first three months of every calendar year. Changing the system in 2015 would be awkward, because Mississippi elects all its state officers in years before presidential election years, so 2015 is state election year in that state.