Ballotpedia has released this four-page analysis of State Official Voter Guides that carry information and, usually, arguments pro and con about state ballot measures. Although not every state has the statewide initiative, any state can have statewide ballot measures, because legislatures can put such measures on the ballot. Ballotpedia studied each state’s Voter Guide and finds that some are much better than others.
On September 5, U.S. District Court Judge Joan Gottschall, a Clinton appointee, issued a 17-page opinion in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Illinois State Board of Elections, northern district, 12-C-2511. The opinion denies the state’s motion to dismiss the case, and strongly suggests that the party will win the lawsuit against the Illinois “full-slate” requirement. However, the opinion suggests that the June petition deadline is constitutional.
Illinois requires an unqualified party to submit a full slate of candidates for any jurisdiction in which it is petitioning. Thus, if it is circulating a statewide petition in a mid-term year, it can’t just run for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. If it runs for those offices, it must also run for Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General, and Comptroller. If it runs a presidential candidate in a year in which U.S. Senate is being voted on, then it must also run a U.S. Senate candidate.
The rule is even more oppressive when county partisan offices are being contested. In this particular lawsuit, the Libertarian Party wanted to run Julie Fox for Auditor of Kane County. But the party was prohibited by the full-slate law from petitioning for her, unless the party also nominated for all the other Kane County county-wide partisan offices.
The Alabama Secretary of State has certified that the three independent presidential petitions all have enough valid signatures. Therefore, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein are on the Alabama ballot. All three will have “independent” as their only ballot label. Alabama is the only state this year in which no minor party labels will appear on the November ballot for President, except that this may or may not become true for Oklahoma as well. Thanks to Paullie for this news.
The Rhode Island Secretary of State has determined that the Libertarian presidential petition has enough valid signatures. The Secretary’s office is keeping a running tally of the number of valid signatures being reported by various towns and cities. The state requires 1,000 valid signatures.
Some cities and towns haven’t reported yet. Providence has made a partial report and will be sending in more later this week. So far, the other presidential petitions have this many valid signatures: Green 996, Party for Socialism and Liberation 897, Constitution 865, and Justice 621.
Because September 11, Tuesday, is primary day in Rhode Island, not much work will be done on the petition tally by most towns for a few days yet. Thanks to Bob Johnston for the news about the Libertarian petition, which has 1,277 valid signatures already. There is no more need for the state to tally any more signatures on that petition.
On September 7, the Michigan Secretary of State told the Michigan Libertarian Party that the party cannot replace its original presidential nominee, Gary Johnson of New Mexico, with a new nominee (Gary Johnson of Texas) because there is “no provision” for that. However, in 2000, Michigan let the U.S. Taxpayers Party replace its vice-presidential nominee with a new vice-presidential nominee.
The U.S. Taxpayers Party changed its name to the Constitution Party at its 1999 national convention, but in Michigan, the party still uses its old name, the U.S. Taxpayers Party. On October 1, 1999, the party’s national convention chose Joseph Sobran for vice-president. Sobran resigned as the nominee on March 31, 2000. On September 2, 2000, the national committee of the party replaced him with Dr. J. Curtis Frazier. Michigan printed Frazier’s name on the ballot, even though the original certification by the party had listed Sobran.
Michigan, like all states, also let the Democratic Party choose a new vice-presidential nominee in 1972. A book about that was published this year. It is “The Eighteen-Day Running Mate: McGovern, Eagleton, and a Campaign Crisis” by Joshua M. Glasser.
Also, in 1980, Michigan let the Anderson Coalition Party choose a new vice-presidential nominee in early September. The party’s original vice-presidential nominee was Milton Eisenhower, but he resigned and was replaced with Patrick Lucey, after the original certification.
And, in 1996, Michigan let the Reform Party choose a new vice-presidential nominee, also in September. The Reform Party, a ballot-qualified party in Michigan, had certified the names of Ross Perot for President and Carl Owenby for Vice-President, to the Michigan Secretary of State, shortly after Perot won the party’s presidential nomination on August 17, 1996. But on September 11, the Reform Party replaced Owenby (who had been considered a stand-in) with Pat Choate, and Michigan printed Choate’s name on the November ballot.
