Conceivably, Massachusetts Could Elect an Independent to U.S. House This Year

Posted on by July 13, 2012
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Several Massachusetts newspapers are reporting that independent Seth Moulton could conceivably be elected to the U.S. House this year. Although the Democratic primary is not until September 6, it is too late for Moulton to get on the Democratic primary ballot. If he is going to be an independent, he needs 2,000 valid signatures by July 31. See this story and this story.

It is certain that the incumbent Democrat, John F. Tierney, will be the Democratic nominee. He is the only person who is on the Democratic primary ballot for that seat. However, as the news stories explain, he has lost support recently.

The ability of an independent candidate to get on the November ballot as late as July 31, or even later, is one of the advantages of an election system that does not use “top-two open primary” rules. If Massachusetts had a top-two open primary, it would be too late for anyone to enter the race this late in the election year.

Arizona Superior Court Judge Will Seek Re-Election as a Libertarian

Posted on by July 13, 2012
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Judge Joseph Lodge, who is a Superior Court Judge in Coconino County, Arizona, will seek re-election as the Libertarian nominee. First he must win the Libertarian primary, but he only needs 15 write-in votes to achieve that, assuming no one else receives more write-ins. No one’s name will be printed on the ballot for that office in the Libertarian primary.

Lodge is a Democrat, but he was removed from the Democratic primary ballot because his petition didn’t specify which seat he was running for. He did have enough valid signatures. See this story. The person who challenged him, Cathleen Nichols, is a Justice of the Peace and also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Superior Court Judge.

Large-population counties in Arizona do not have partisan elections for Superior Court Judge, but smaller counties, like Coconino County, do. The primary is August 28. Arizona already has one other Superior Court Judge who is a Libertarian. He is John Buttrick, but he is in Maricopa County, which does not have partisan elections for Superior Court Judge.

Both the New York Times and Slate Mangle Green Party History

Posted on by July 13, 2012
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The print edition of the New York Times has this fairly long article on Jill Stein and the Green Party. It says that Stein is the first Green Party “candidate” to qualify for primary season matching funds. Actually, Ralph Nader received $667,000 in primary season matching funds when he was the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2000.

Slate has this article commenting on the New York Times article, written by David Weigel. He originally wrote that Cynthia McKinney received primary matching funds in 2008, when she was the Green Party’s presidential candidate. But then he found out that wasn’t correct, and he re-wrote his story, but never pointed out that Nader did receive primary season matching funds as the Green Party candidate in 2000.

Both the New York Times article, and the Slate article, are unfair to Ralph Nader. The New York Times story says Nader in 2000 “only” received 3% of the vote. But Nader’s showing in 2000 was the highest percentage of the vote that a party to the left of the Democrats had polled since 1924. Henry Wallace in 1948, and Norman Thomas in 1932, each ran historic races, but each only got 2% of the vote. The Slate article claims that Nader “undermined” the Green Party in 2004, but carries no specifics. Nader in 2004, if he were so inclined, could have challenged the Green Party petition in Pennsylvania. The 2004 Green Party petition in Pennsylvania only had a few hundred more signatures than the legal requirement, but neither Nader nor anyone else challenged it.

Decision on Letting Non-Democrats Vote in Florida Democratic Party Primary for One Office is Delayed

Posted on by July 13, 2012
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On July 13, U.S. District Court Judge William Zloch issued a procedural opinion in LaCasa v Townsley, the case over whether non-Democrats should be allowed to vote in the August 2012 primary in Florida for one particular partisan office, State Attorney in Miami-Dade County. The order says the original complaint is flawed, because the plaintiffs didn’t sue the Secretary of State; they just sued the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections. The order instructs the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint. Here is the order.

The case is still being expedited. The next oral argument will be on July 23 at 10 a.m. The reason the plaintiffs want non-Democrats to be able to vote in the Democratic primary is that the only two candidates who filed to be on the primary ballot are both Democrats, and there are no independent candidates in the race. There are two write-in candidates in the general election, so under Florida law, as interpreted by the Secretary of State, only registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary. If the two write-in candidates had not filed, Florida law says that because only Democrats are running for the office, all voters may vote in the Democratic primary for that office.

Constitution Party Plans to File Virginia Petition Early

Posted on by July 13, 2012
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Virginia petitions to place independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, are due August 24. The Constitution Party petition will be submitted on Monday, July 16, and will contain approximately 14,000 signatures. The requirement is 10,000, with at least 400 in each U.S. House district.

When a group turns in a Virginia petition with more than the minimum number of signatures, election officials then start to check the signatures. Groups are permitted to then turn in additional signatures. Therefore, it is advantageous for a group to submit at least 10,000 signatures early in the process, because then they can learn how many more they need, if any, and avoid collecting signatures unnecessarily.