According to this Facebook message, Oklahomans upset by the lack of choices on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot will hold a rally at the Oklahoma State Capitol on Monday, October 8, to publicize the problem. The Libertarian Party nominee for Congress from the 4th district, R. J. Harris, and the Democratic nominee for Congress from that same district, Donna Bebo, are among the speakers.

This is the third presidential election in a row in which Oklahoma voters are not permitted to vote for anyone for President other than the Democratic and Republican nominees. In order to find an example of any other state that tied the hands of voters this way for three elections in a row, one must go all the way back to the period 1956-1964. Oklahoma’s historical record for presidential choice on ballots is now almost as bad as Ohio’s record for the period 1952-1964. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1968 struck down Ohio’s ballot access laws precisely because Ohio had similar restrictions for four presidential elections in a row. Unfortunately, it appears most Oklahoma voters are unaware of their state’s deviation from the national norm.

Oklahoma is one of only five states that bans all write-ins. The others are Hawaii, South Dakota, Nevada, and Louisiana. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

On September 26, the Sixth Circuit refused to rehear Jolivette v Husted, although the vote was not unanimous. This is the case over whether an independent candidate for the legislature, who had enough valid signatures, should be kept off the ballot on the grounds that he had too close an association with the Republican Party. The Ohio law only bans “sore losers”, not candidates who merely associated with a party. But the tradition has taken hold in Ohio that the “sore loser” law should be interpreted to ban more behavior than the behavior mentioned specifically by the law.

Greg Jolivette circulated a petition last year to be on the Republican primary ballot, but he withdrew it and never ran in the Republican primary. Nevertheless, that action has now been judged to be the same action as actually running in a primary and losing that primary. The case is Jolivette v Husted, 12-3998.

On September 27, Georgia representative Rick Crawford (D-Cedartown) announced that he has switched to being a Republican. A few hours later, the Georgia Democratic Party state committee, which happened to be meeting anyway, voted to ask the Secretary of State to remove his name from the ballot. Courts in Alabama and Tennessee have permitted political parties to override the primaries, but apparently this idea has not yet been tested in Georgia.

The ballot already contains a Republican nominee, Trey Kelley. See this story. Thanks to Kyle Bennett for the link.