August 6 is the Maryland petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates. The Libertarian Party just submitted 5,636 signatures, hoping that at least 2,766 are valid. The Green Party had turned in its first supplemental petition on July 19, containing 3,921 more signatures, but then those had been checked and they were still 138 short. But on August 6, the Greens submitted a third petition, this one with 1,652 more signatures.

The state requires 10,000. The reason supplemental petitions are needed is that even though the parties had already submitted petitions last year, and even though a lower state court had said those petitions were sufficient, earlier this year the highest state court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that signatures are not valid if a voter’s middle initial is listed in the voter registration records and yet the signature on the petition doesn’t include the middle initial on the petition. Also that Court invalidated signatures when a voter signed once without the middle initial, and then signed again, this time with the middle initial (so that both signatures are invalid). Thanks to Bob Johnston and Brian Bittner for this news.

The Maine Secretary of State has determined that the Libertarian Party presidential petition for Gary Johnson has enough valid signature. See this story. This will be the first time a Libertarian presidential candidate has been on in Maine since 2004. In 2008, the Libertarian presidential petition did not have enough valid signatures in Maine.

If Johnson polls at least 5%, the Libertarian Party would then become ballot-qualified in Maine for the next two years. The Libertarian Party has never been a qualified party in Maine, except in the years 1991-1992. If the Libertarian Party gains party status as a result of Johnson’s vote, then it could only keep that status after 2014 if its registration rises considerably. In 2014 it would need to have at least 10,000 registered voters who turned out and cast a vote in November 2014 (it doesn’t matter how they vote, only that they do vote). The deadline has not passed yet, but it is unlikely any other presidential petitions will be turned in. The Green Party is already ballot-qualified. Thanks to Alex Hammer for the link.

Here is the web page for the Arizona group that is attempting to qualify an initiative on the November 2012, to pass a top-two open primary law. The map misleads viewers into thinking that Nebraska has a top-two open primary. Actually, Nebraska has semi-closed primaries for President, Congress, all state executive offices, and all partisan county offices.

The adherents of the Arizona initiative, if asked about this, would probably say, “Yes, but Nebraska has non-partisan legislative elections”, and that would be true. However, non-partisan elections are not the same as top-two open primary systems. Although vocabulary in this area of election law is frequently confusing, all writers about primary systems define “top-two Primary” to be a system in which party labels appear on ballots, yet parties don’t nominate candidates.

Party labels on the ballot are the single most important determinant of how voters vote. Political science research has confirmed this for over half a century. A system without party labels, such as the Nebraska legislative election system, is therefore very different from any system in which party labels appear on the ballot. Nebraska has had non-partisan elections for the legislature since 1934. Nevertheless, political science research has shown that even the Nebraska legislature, in recent years, has behaved in a very partisan manner. Thanks to Mark Rogalski and Christina Tobin for the link.