U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman has set an oral argument for August 30 on whether to expedite the lawsuit Libertarian Party of Michigan v Ruth Johnson. The argument will be via conference call, and starts at 10 a.m. eastern time. The Michigan Secretary of State has been fiercely trying to persuade the judge not to adjudicate the case until after the election is over.
On August 29, the three Iowa officials charged with adjudicating the challenge to the Libertarian Party’s ballot placement voted 3-0 to keep the Libertarian Party presidential ticket on the ballot. The three officials were the Secretary of State, the Auditor, and the Attorney General.
Defying conventional expectation, Matt Schultz, the Republican Secretary of State, spoke out most forcefully in defense of the Gary Johnson ballot position. And the Democratic Attorney General, Tom Miller, at first was most in favor of removing Johnson from the ballot. However, in the end, Miller agreed with Schultz. The Iowa election code does not describe or even define “convention” in the section relating to unqualified party ballot access. Schultz also pointed out that Iowa permitted Brian Moore, the 2008 Socialist Party presidential nominee, to get on the ballot using an open-air convention at which passers-by were permitted to sign the roster.
Here is a brief news story. UPDATE: here is the formal decision. Thanks to Alicia Dearn for the link to the decision.
On August 28, the Federal Election Commission declared that Jill Stein is eligible for primary season matching funds, and sent her campaign a check for $100,000.
The FEC took an unusually long time to approve these funds. Stein’s submission had been made on July 12. Here is the FEC press release. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for this news.
On August 24, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter dismissed the case known as Delegates to the Republican National Convention v Republican National Committee, 8:12-cv-927, central district of California. The case had been filed by 119 Ron Paul delegates to the national convention over various disputes with the Republican National Committee. The case was dismissed mostly because the judge said the plaintiffs had failed to comply with court rules.
On August 28, the California Senate passed AB !45, which makes it illegal for groups to pay registration drive workers on a per-registration card basis, “directly or indirectly.” Apparently the bill passed on a party-line vote, with all Democrats in support and all Republican opposed.
The bill no longer has any criminal penalties.
