Ohio Secretary of State Will Refuse to Count Votes for Jill Stein Because the Green Party Tried to Substitute a New Vice-Presidential Nominee

Posted on by September 25, 2024
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On September 25, the Ohio Secretary of State said he won’t count votes for Jill Stein, even though she is on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. This is because the Ohio Greens sent in paperwork to swap out the stand-in vice-presidential nominee, Anita Rios, with the actual vice-presidential nominee, Butch Ware. The paperwork caused the problem. The due date for withdrawal is later than the due date for a new nominee. Therefore, the Ohio Secretary of State deemed the withdrawal of the stand-in to be timely, and he interpreted it as a withdrawal of Jill Stein herself and the stand-in vice-presidential candidate. But he deemed the new vice-presidential name to be too late.

There are other states in the past in which presidential candidates appeared on the November ballot without a vice-presidential nominee, but no such instances in Ohio.

The Green Party hopes to bring a lawsuit to overturn the decision. In the meantime elections officials have already prepared a postal mailing to all the voters who received an absentee ballot, telling them votes for Stein won’t count.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Ballot Labels

Posted on by September 25, 2024
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is on the ballot in 32 jurisdictions (including Wisconsin, which might change). Generally his ballot label is “independent” (or whatever term that state uses for independent candidates, such as “unaffiliated” or “nonpartisan”). But in thirteen states, he has a party label.

In Oregon, he created a new ballot-qualified party, the We the People Party. He is also on the ballot with the label “We the People” in seven states that permit an independent candidate to choose a partisan label beyond just “independent”. They are Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. In Rhode Island he chose the label “Team Kennedy.”

Also he is on the ballot as the nominee of pre-existing qualified parties in these states: California (American Independent), Delaware (Independent Party), and Michigan (Natural Law Party).

Twenty-four Individuals are on the Presidential Ballot in at Least One State

Posted on by September 29, 2024
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At the November 2024 election, twenty-four individuals are on the ballot for President in at least one state. That is down from 2020, when there were thirty-six, a historic record. The reason there were so many in 2020 is that Vermont let anyone on by request, and Colorado allowed anyone on who paid $1,000. Neither of those states have those policies any longer.

Green Party Will Remain Ballot-Qualified in North Carolina Through 2028

Posted on by September 25, 2024
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North Carolina law says a party gains or retains qualified status if its presidential nominee was on the ballot in at least 35 states. The party label doesn’t matter. Jill Stein will be on the ballot in 36 states in November 2024, so the party is now on the ballot for 2026 and 2028.

Parties also retain if they poll 2% for either President or Governor. Both offices are up in presidential years.

If Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. had not withdrawn, his party, the We the People Party, would also have qualified. However, he withdrew his name from North Carolina and eighteen other states, so he is only on in 31 states (plus D.C., but D.C. doesn’t count for purposes of the North Carolina law). If he had not withdrawn, he would have been on in 49 states plus D.C. Only New York would have kept him off.

Nevada Libertarians Likely to Retain Qualified Status Due to No Democratic Party Nominee in US House Race in Northern Nevada

Posted on by September 24, 2024
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The Nevada law on party retention is: (1) either the party must hold 1% of the registration; or (2) it must poll for any of its nominees a number of votes that equals 1% of the total vote cast in the state for US House.

There is no Democratic nominee this year in the U.S. House, second district, the northern Nevada district. Therefore, the Libertarian nominee in that district is overwhelmingly likely to poll enough votes to keep the party on the ballot. Because Nevada has four districts, the Libertarian nominee needs approximately 4% of the vote in his race, because that is approximately 1% of the entire state’s vote for US House.

The Libertarian Party also has statewide candidates for President and U.S. Senate, but it not a safe bet that either will poll as much as 1%. In 2022, the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate only polled .64%.

Libertarian registration in Nevada, as of September 1, was only .81%. The other ballot-qualified third party, the Constitution Party affiliate which is called the Independent American Party, doesn’t need to worry about the vote test because its registration is 4.46%.