Ernie Almonte, who was Rhode Island’s Auditor 1994-2010, will run for State Treasurer this year as an independent candidate. He and the Democratic nominee will be the only names on the November ballot. See this story. Almonte is considered to have a chance of winning, although his chances would be better if the new law, eliminating the straight-ticket device, had gone into effect this year instead of 2015. Thanks to Michael for the news.
On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law that restricts First Amendment activity on public sidewalks. Here is the decision in McCullen v Coakley, 12-1168. The First Circuit had upheld the law.
The decision says, “Public sidewalks occupy a special position in terms of First Amendment protection. It is no accident that public streets and sidewalks have developed as venues for the exchange of ideas.”
On June 23, the Wyoming Constitution Party nominee for Secretary of State, and a donor who wants to contribute to her campaign now, filed a federal lawsuit against Wyoming campaign finance laws. The state laws won’t permit anyone to give a campaign contribution to the nominee of a qualified minor party until after the August 19 primary. Yet the same state laws permit individuals to give to major party candidates running in primaries during the first half of the year.
Here is the Complaint in Wills v Mead. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link. This case is very likely to win, because a few months ago the Tenth Circuit struck down similar Colorado laws, and Wyoming is in the Tenth Circuit.
Rob Sarvis, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate from Virginia, has been informed that his petition is valid. Thanks to Bob Johnston for this news. He is the only candidate on the ballot, other than the two major party nominees.
On June 26, SurveyUSA released a poll for the Kansas gubernatorial poll. Scroll down to question five. The results: Democrat Paul Davis 47%, Republican incumbent Sam Brownback 41%, Libertarian Keen Umbehr 5%, undecided 7%.
SurveyUSA Polls generally give the partisan leanings of respondents. This poll shows that 11% of the independents, 6% of the Republicans, but only 1% of the Democrats, favor the Libertarian nominee.
The Libertarian Party is the only ballot-qualified party on the ballot in Kansas, except for the two major parties. The party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 1% for any statewide race. If the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate polls as much as 5%, the party will be entitled to nominate by primary in 2016; otherwise it will continue to nominate by convention. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
