On August 21, 2011, Steve Rankin of Jackson, Mississippi, died of cancer. He was an expert in major party primaries, especially on the details of which voters can participate in those primaries. He believed that parties should decide for themselves who should vote in their primaries. He kept in touch with all legal developments concerning this issue, and was a frequent source of news for this blog, and a frequent commenter for quite a few years.
On October 6, Americans Elect released a 39-page book, describing how presidential candidates may obtain a place in the Americans Elect presidential primary. The book also explains how groups that want to draft a presidential candidate may proceed. The title is “Briefing Book for Candidates and Draft Committees, 2012 Presidential Nomination Process.”
This is only a draft, and Americans Elect is seeking input from all interested individuals on ways in which to improve the process.
According to this story, Americans Elect has begun circulating the party petition in Rhode Island, which requires 17,115 valid signatures. The party petition procedure has only existed since 1994. It has never been used, except by the Moderate Party in 2010. Thanks to Ken Block for the link.
On October 4, a lower state court in Arizona agreed to re-open the lawsuit Boettcher v Bennett, and will hold a hearing on October 7 to hear more evidence. See this story.
The case involved who should be on the ballot in the November 8 special election for State Senate. Currently three candidates are on the ballot: incumbent Senate President Russell Pearce, Jerry Lewis, and Olivia Cortes. The lawsuit charges that Cortes as a “sham candidate” put on the ballot by the efforts of supporters of Pearce for the purpose of splitting the opposition vote. Originally the court had ruled that there is no basis to remove a candidate from the ballot based on the candidate’s motives for running. But now, opponents of Pearce say they have new evidence about the relationship between Pearce supporters and Cortes. Cortes asked the State Supreme Court to stop the October 7 hearing, but the State Supreme Court refused to intervene. However, the Supreme Court also said that it will eventually hear the entire case.
In the meantime, all three candidates have agreed to debate each other.
On October 4, a New York trial court in Westchester County ruled that an individual may circulate a petition for an independent candidate, even if that individual had signed another petition to place someone on a primary ballot for that same office. Rice v Board of Elections in Westchester County, 14277/11.
As a result, the Libertarian Party petition to place its nominees on the November 8, 2011 ballot for local office in North Castle did have enough valid signatures. However, the candidates still won’t appear on the ballot, because the decision also says that the party’s lawsuit wasn’t filed and served quickly enough. Thanks to Mark Axinn for this news. Here is the decision.
