According to this story, the Justice Party has already started petitioning for party status in Utah. The law requires 2,000 valid signatures by February 15. Parties that are already ballot-qualified in Utah, besides the two major parties, are Americans Elect, Constitution, and Libertarian.
On January 13, Rocky Anderson accepted the presidential nomination of the Justice Party, at a public meeting held on the campus of the University of Utah.
On Saturday, January 14, Rick Perry filed a notice of appeal in his lawsuit to get on the Virginia presidential primary ballot. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
The California Libertarian presidential primary ballot will carry nine names: Roger Gary, R. J. Harris, Gary Johnson, Scott Keller, James Ogle, Carl Person, Bill Still, Joy Waymire, and Lee Wrights. The Libertarian presidential primary might be deemed somewhat irrational, because the primary is not until June, and the party will have chosen its nominee in May.
The Libertarian Party didn’t use its presidential primary in California in 1980, 1984, and 1988, because the national convention was before the date of the California primary. In 1992, the only name listed on the Libertarian California presidential primary was Andre Marrou, who was already the nominee.
Starting in 1996, though, the Libertarian Party national conventions were later than the California primary, so the party started holding multi-candidate presidential primaries in California. In 1996, Harry Browne won the primary in a 4-way race and went on to be the nominee. In 2000, Browne won the 5-way California primary and again went on to be the nominee. In 2004, Gary Nolan won the California 3-way primary but was defeated for the party’s nomination at the convention. In 2008, Christine Smith won the 12-person primary but she was not nominated at the national convention.
According to this story, the chair of the Virginia Republican Party, Pat Mullins, is expecting a low voter turnout in the Virginia Republican presidential primary, because voters cannot vote for anyone except Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
On January 13, the plaintiffs in Rubin v Bowen filed this Memorandum of Points & Authorities with the Alameda County, California Superior Court. Rubin v Bowen is the lawsuit filed by the Peace & Freedom, Libertarian, and Alameda County Green Parties against the “top-two” system. The case number is RG11605301. It has a hearing at 9 a.m. on February 7.
