The December 16 New York Times has this set of letters, commenting on minor and new political parties, and ideas for such parties. One letter discusses ballot access injustice, and one letter explains proportional representation. The other letters merely talk about the ideas that a desired new political party might promote.
The Peace and Freedom Party ticket of Roseanne Barr for President and Cindy Sheehan for Vice-President’s best county in the U.S. was Trinity County, California. The ticket polled 1.18% in that county, which is a mountainous county just to the east of the Green Party’s best county in the U.S., Humboldt County.
The Barr-Sheehan ticket only appeared on the ballot in California, Colorado, and Florida. So far, write-ins for the ticket have been counted in Alabama, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Outside California, the ticket’s best county was Cheyenne County, Colorado, where it polled .91%. Cheyenne County is on the Kansas border.
Lawsuits are pending in U.S. District Court in both Alabama and Oklahoma against state laws passed last year that moved petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties into March. In Alabama, the lawsuit was filed by the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties. In Oklahoma, the lawsuit was filed by the Green and Libertarian Parties.
In both cases, attorneys for the states have been deposing various minor party state officers and plaintiff-candidates. Their strategy is apparently to deflect the attention of the judge from the issue of the early deadline, onto any perceived defects in the minor parties themselves. Alabama, this month, even took the deposition of Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. Oklahoma this month has taken the deposition of the current state chair, the previous state chair, and the state chair prior to that.
During the period starting in 1968, federal and state courts have struck down early petition deadlines for minor party and independent candidates in 51 separate lawsuits. There are no court precedents upholding a deadline as early as March for a newly-qualifying party, and only one precedent upholding a petition deadline as early as March for an independent candidate (the Lawrence v Blackwell precedent from 2005, upholding the deadline for independent candidates for office other than president, because Ohio’s major parties also nominated in March). Although the 7th circuit upheld a December (of the year before the election) deadline for non-presidential independents in 1986, in 2006 the 7th circuit reversed itself and invalidated that petition deadline.
Early petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates have been struck down in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah. Such deadlines were enjoined in Hawaii and Idaho, although no declaratory judgment was obtained in those two states.
On November 7, the Socialist Workers Party asked the Federal Election Commission to extend its exemption from having to identity the individuals who contribute to its federal candidates. See this story from The Militant. In 1982 the party had won a unanimous decision in the U.S. Supreme Court that it need not identify its contributors nor its expenditures. The expenditure exemption was based on the fact that the list of expenditures would necessarily include the names of its branch organizers. The SWP won the case because it showed that when its supporters are identified publicly, they are subject to harassment.
The FEC has never ruled that the SWP is exempt from disclosure forever. The FEC always grants the party an exemption, but limits the time. The current exemption runs out on December 31, 2012.
The Socialist Workers Party has nominated John Hawkins for U.S. House, in the Illinois 2nd district, which is having a special election in April 2013. Hawkins’ announcement did not say if he will attempt to obtain a place on the ballot. The law requires a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast.
