The Rhode Island Secretary of State had determined that all five presidential independent petitions submitted this year are valid. The two newly-validated petitions are those for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Justice Party. The Secretary of State had previously said that the Libertarian, Green and Constitution Party petitions are valid.
The Nebraska Secretary of State has determined that Randall Terry has enough valid signatures to be on the ballot, but the other two independent petitions fell short. They had been submitted by Jill Stein and Virgil Goode.
On September 13, the Kansas State Objections Board rejected the attempt of national leaders of the Reform Party to have Andre Barnett listed as the Reform Party presidential nominee. The national convention of the Reform Party, meeting in Philadelphia August 11-12, had chosen Barnett for President. But the Kansas Reform Party state officers certified Chuck Baldwin as the state party’s presidential nominee.
The State Objections Board, composed of the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State, heard testimony about the dispute, and then ruled that the state party has the authority to name the presidential electors, and therefore the state party determines which presidential nominee to list. The same board made a similar ruling in 2008, when the state Reform Party also chose Baldwin for President, even though the 2008 national Reform Party convention had chosen Ted Weill for President.
Now that the Reform Party of Kansas has clearly established that it, and not the national convention, has authority to determine the presidential nominee, it is possible that the state party will revise its presidential nominee. Baldwin is apparently willing to withdraw in favor of Virgil Goode.
On September 13, the Michigan Libertarian Party asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (the judge who has jurisdiction over the 6th circuit during the Court’s summer recess) to intervene in Libertarian Party of Michigan v Ruth Johnson. This is the case over how to interpret Michigan’s “sore loser” law, and whether it is constitutional if it does apply to presidential primaries. Here is the filing.
On September 13, the Michigan Libertarian Party filed this response brief in Gelineau v Ruth Johnson, the case in U.S. District Court over whether Gary E. Johnson of Texas should be on the ballot. Included with this brief is this declaration of Michael Mizzi, city clerk of Allen Park, Michigan. He says that ballot-printing is not being done yet, and also that if the Court puts Gary E. Johnson on September 18 (the date of the hearing), the ballot-printing schedule could cope with that decision.
