North Dakota Attorney General Ponders Whether to Remove Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate from November Ballot

Posted on by June 27, 2012
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Al Jaeger, North Dakota Secretary of State, has asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to decide whether Roland Riemers may remain on the November 2012 ballot as the Libertarian nominee for Governor. See this story. Due to a paperwork error, the Libertarian running for Lieutenant Governor was kept off the Libertarian primary ballot, so the party has no Lieutenant Governor nominee. In North Dakota primaries, candidates for Governor run separately from candidates for Lieutenant Governor. But in the general election, they run as a team.

In Wisconsin in 2010, the Libertarian Party had a candidate in the primary for Lieutenant Governor, but not for Governor. Wisconsin election officials permitted the Lieutenant Governor candidate to be on the ballot in November, even though Wisconsin has the same system, in which Governor and Lieutenant Governor run separately in primaries but as a team in November.

Also, in 1986, Illinois Democrats had a nominee on the November ballot for Lieutenant Governor, but no one for Governor, and that was permitted. The Democratic ticket of no one for Governor and someone for Lieutenant Governor received 6.6% of the November 1986 vote. That vote was essential for keeping the Democratic Party on the ballot. If the ticket had polled under 5% of the vote, the Democratic Party would have lost its status as a qualified party. The reason Democrats had no candidate for Governor that year was that the winner of the Democratic primary, Adlai E. Stevenson III, resigned from the Democratic ticket rather than run in November teamed with a supporter of Lyndon LaRouche.

If the North Dakota Libertarian Party has no nominee on the November 2012 ballot for Governor, the only way it can remain ballot-qualified will be if Gary Johnson, the presidential nominee, polls at least 5%.

U.S. District Court in Montana Upholds Ban on Political Party Endorsements in Judicial Elections

Posted on by June 26, 2012
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On June 26, late in the day, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell refused to issue an injunction against the Montana law that makes it a crime for political parties to endorse candidates in judicial races. The case is Sanders County Republican Central Committee v Bullock, cv12-46-H.

The judge did reject the state’s argument that the party doesn’t have standing to challenge the ban. The state had argued that since the party has no bylaw authorizing such endorsements, therefore the lawsuit should be dismissed. But Judge Lovell said if the party did pass such a bylaw, that alone would be a criminal act, and that the party is not required to pass a bylaw before suing.

The constitutionality of the ban is still not formally settled, and a further hearing will be held on September 25. In the meantime, both sides are likely to collect evidence about the effect of party endorsements in judicial races. That will probably involve research from states with non-partisan judicial elections in which there is no ban on party endorsements.

Link to Utah Primary Results

Posted on by June 26, 2012
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Here is a link to the Utah state elections web page, showing election returns for the June 26 primary. In the Republican presidential primary, the vote so far is: Mitt Romney 93%, Ron Paul 5%, Fred Karger 0.3%, Rick Santorum 2%, Newt Gingrich .5%.

In the Constitution Party gubernatorial primary, the results so far are: Kirk D. Pearson 65%, Brandon W. Nay 35%.

Joseph Carraro, who Served Twenty Years in the New Mexico Legislature as a Republican, Will be an Independent Candidate for State Senate This Year

Posted on by June 26, 2012
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On June 26, former New Mexico State Senator Joseph Carraro filed a petition to be on the November ballot as an independent candidate for State Senate. He will be the only opponent to the Republican nominee. See this story. Carraro served in the legislature 1984-1988 and 1992-2008.

Carraro will benefit by the fact that this year, for the first time in many decades, New Mexico’s general election ballot has no straight-ticket device.

This November, current or former state legislators who were previously major party nominees are running for the legislature as independents in at least four states. Those former or current state legislators are Kyle Johansen in Alaska, Kathleen Curry in Colorado, Nancy Argenziano in Florida, and Joseph Carraro in New Mexico. Johansen and Carraro were formerly Republicans; Curry and Argenziano were formerly Democrats.

A former California legislator, Anthony Adams, ran for Congress this year, but because he didn’t place first or second in the June 5 primary, he can’t run in November. If California didn’t use a top-two system, he probably would be on the November ballot as an independent candidate.

Jon Barrie Files 10,279 Signatures to be on Ballot for U.S. Senate in New Mexico

Posted on by June 26, 2012
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Jon Barrie is the U.S. Senate nominee of the Independent American Party of New Mexico. On June 26, he filed 10,279 signatures to be on the November ballot. New Mexico is the only state that requires qualified parties to submit petitions for their nominees (notice this is not the same thing as states that requires candidates to file signatures to appear on a primary ballot; those people aren’t nominees until they have won the primary). So even though the Independent American Party had already filed one petition earlier this year to become ballot-qualified, the law required an entirely separate petition for Barrie.

Barrie will be the first person on the November ballot to run for U.S. Senate in New Mexico, other than Democratic and Republican nominees, since 1996. Thanks to Stephen Dolgos for this news.