Fourth Circuit Agrees with Lower Court that Forcing a Candidate for Congress to Reveal Any Previous Felony Conviction is Not a Qualification

Posted on by November 18, 2024
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On November 14, the Fourth Circuit agreed with the lower court that North Carolina’s law requiring candidates to reveal whether they have been convicted of a felony does not add to the qualifications to run for Congress. Sharma v Hirsch, 23-2164. Here is the decision.

The North Carolina declaration of candidacy to run in a primary asks if the candidate has been convicted of a felony, and, if so, to add some details about the conviction. When a candidate is running for Congress, though, the answers on the form have no impact on whether the candidate can get on the ballot. Even if the candidate has been convicted of a felony, the state will print his or her name on the ballot. Therefore, the Fourth Circuit concluded, because the requirement is not a barrier to ballot placement, there is no violation of Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Article One bars the states from adding to the qualifications to run for Congress.

The decision also notes that the response to the question is not printed on any ballot, and it isn’t easy for a member of the public to even know what the candidate said on the declaration. The declaration is not available to be viewed on the internet.

The decision also acknowledges that a candidate can run for congress even if the candidate is not registered. The decision is by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III (a Reagan appointee) and is also signed by Judges Julius N. Richardson and Allison Jones Rushing (Trump appointees).

U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Shiva Ayyadurai’s New Jersey Presidential Qualifications Case

Posted on by November 18, 2024
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On November 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Ayyadurai v Democratic State Committee of New Jersey, 24-342. This is the lawsuit filed by independent presidential candidate Shiva Ayyadurai. He had enough valid signatures in New Jersey, and New Jersey has many times in the past printed the names of presidential and vice-presidential candidates who don’t meet the constitutional qualifications. But in this case the New Jersey Democratic Party had challenged Ayyadurai, and the lower state courts had upheld the challenge.

It is not clear why the New Jersey Democratic Party took this action.

If the U.S. Supreme Court had taken up the case, that could have settled some questions not answered in the Trump v Anderson case from early in 2024. There were many briefs filed in Trump v Anderson on the issue of whether unqualified candidates for president should nevertheless be allowed on the ballot, on the theory that the true candidates are running for presidential elector. Trump v Anderson bypassed that question.

No Minor Party or Independent Presidential Candidate in Any State Held Balance of Power

Posted on by November 16, 2024
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At last week’s election, the only states in which one of the presidential candidates got less than 50% of the total vote were Michigan and Wisconsin. And even in those two states, the margin between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was greater than the vote for any single minor party or independent candidate.

Ranked Choice Voting Boosted Minor Party Presidential Candidates

Posted on by November 16, 2024
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The two states that used Ranked Choice Voting this year gave significantly higher vote percentages to minor party presidential candidates, relative to the states that didn’t use RCV.

Jill Stein’s highest percentage was in Maine, one of the states that used RCV.

Cornel West’s second-best and third-best percentages came in the two RCV states, Maine and Alaska. His best percentage was in Vermont.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s third-best state was Alaska, one of the RCV states. He wasn’t on in Maine, the other RCV state. His best states were Montana and South Dakota.

Chase Oliver’s fourth-best and fifth-best states were the two RCV states. The only states in which he did better than the RCV states were North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. In North Dakota and Wyoming he was the only alternative on the ballot to the two major party nominees.

Randall Terry’s best state was Alaska, one of the RCV states.

Peter Sonski’s best state was Alaska, one of the RCV states. He was the American Solidarity Party nominee.

Claudia De la Cruz, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, wasn’t on either of the two RCV states. Her best state was Vermont, although California is very close and the California votes aren’t all counted.

Shiva Ayyadurai’s best state was his home state of Massachusetts.

The Socialist Workers Party’s best state was Vermont.

Utah Finishes Tallying Presidential Write-Ins

Posted on by November 16, 2024
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The Utah State Elections office has finished the write-in tally for declared presidential write-ins. The only two such candidates who were on the ballot in any state this year are Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party, and independent Jay Bowman.

Sonski received 428. In 2020 his party had polled 368 write-ins in Utah.

Jay Bowman (who was only on the Tennessee ballot) received 57 write-ins in Utah.