Gary Johnson is Forced to Make a Quick Trip to Tennessee; State Says He Must Personally Sign Each Petition Sheet

Posted on by August 15, 2012
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The deadline for independent presidential candidates to file petitions in Tennessee is noon, August 16, Thursday. The Libertarian Party is not ballot-qualified in Tennessee, so Gary Johnson supporters collected signatures for him as an independent. However, on August 14, the Johnson supporters learned for the first time that Tennessee is requiring each independent presidential candidate to personally sign each petition sheet. Johnson was forced to fly to Tennessee on very short notice. See this newspaper story.

Tennessee election officials also told Merlin Miller, the presidential candidate of American Third Position Party, and Rocky Anderson, presidential candidate of the Justice Party, that they must also sign each petition sheet. However, state officials told the Green Party presidential candidate, Jill Stein, and the Constitution Party presidential candidate, Virgil Goode, that this is not a requirement. However, the latter two presidential candidates are nominees of ballot-qualified parties in Tennessee, so in any event they didn’t need a petition.

Tennessee requires 275 signatures for an independent presidential candidate, and also requires that presidential elector candidates supporting such presidential candidates meet a residency requirement, with one elector needed from each U.S. House district.

Larry Dodge Dies

Posted on by August 15, 2012
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Larry Dodge died on July 17, 2012, at the age of 69. He was one of the founders of the Libertarian Party of Montana, and was its first nominee for statewide office in Montana. In 1982 he ran for U.S. Senator, and was the first U.S. Senate candidate to appear on a general election ballot in Montana for that office (other than Democratic and Republican nominees) since 1952. His campaign garnered considerable publicity because he visited every county in Montana, by canoe. He polled 3.87%, enough to keep the Libertarian Party on the ballot for the next election. He also ran for Governor as a Libertarian in 1984, polling 3.25%.

He was the co-founder of the Fully Informed Jury Association, and he was the campaign manager for Native American activist Russell Means when Means sought the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party in 1988. Means was defeated for that nomination by Ron Paul. Dodge had a doctorate in Sociology and was known for his kindness and ability to get along with virtually anyone. Thanks to his widow, Honey Lanham Dodge, for this news.

Michigan Republican Congressman Thad McCotter Petitions from 2010 Were Invalid, but He Still Got on Ballot That Year

Posted on by August 15, 2012
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The recent news about Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter’s petitions being invalid this year prompted some research into his previous primary ballot access petitions. According to this story on Politico, the 2010 petition was also invalid, but no one seems to have noticed at the time, and he was on the Republican primary ballot in 2010 with no difficulty. Thanks to Daniel Sachs for the link.

Tennessee Democrat Who Lost U.S. Senate Primary Sues Democratic Party in Federal Court and Asks for a New Democratic Primary Election

Posted on by August 15, 2012
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As reported earlier, at the Tennessee Democratic Party primary on August 2, Mark Clayton won the nomination for U.S. Senate, even though he had a platform at odds with the platform of the Democratic Party, and even though he had only once in his life voted in a Tennessee Democratic primary. That one instance was in 2008, when he was also a candidate for U.S. Senate. He did not win the 2008 Democratic primary.

On August 15, another Democrat who ran for U.S. Senate in this month’s primary, Larry Crim, sued the Tennessee Democratic Party, charging that the party knew Clayton was not a bona fide Democrat, but that the party let him file anyway, because the party was prejudiced against Crim and knew that without Clayton in the race, Crim would appear first on the primary ballot. Candidates are listed by alphabetical order in Tennessee primaries. Here is the complaint. The case is Crim v Tennessee Democratic Party, middle district, 3:12-0838.

U.S. District Court Hears Arguments on Whether Ohio Must Preserve Early Voting for All Voters on an Equal Basis

Posted on by August 15, 2012
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On August 15, U.S. District Court Judge Peter Economus heard oral arguments in Obama for America v Husted, 2:12-cv-636. The issue is whether Ohio must let all voters participate in early voting during the weekend before the general election. The basis for the lawsuit is that Ohio lets members of the military use early voting on those days. See this story.