On September 1, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a directive, telling county elections officials to print the ballot label “Libertarian” next to the names of Libertarian Party nominees for partisan city office in the November 8, 2011 elections. The directive also tells county election officials to treat the Libertarian Party as a qualified party for purposes of having observers at the polls. However, the directive says nothing about whether the Libertarian Party should be treated as a qualified party in 2011 for campaign finance purposes.

The Federal Election Commission met on September 1. On the agenda was the matter of Abdul Karim Hassan, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen who wishes to run for president in 2012. He had asked the FEC whether he is permitted to raise money for his campaign, and whether he is eligible to receive primary matching funds. He clearly admits that he does not meet the Constitutional requirements to become President.

FEC staff had prepared two possible advisory opinions, both of which say Hassan is free to raise money, but which differ on whether he is eligible for matching funds. Draft “A” says he is ineligible to receive primary season matching funds. Draft “B” says the FEC will not decide this until he actually raises the needed $5,000 from each of 20 states. At the meeting, the FEC declined to choose either draft, but a third draft has been written and will be evaluated soon. Hassan was born in Guyana. Here is the text of Drafts “A” and “B”. UPDATE: Draft “C” says Hassan cannot receive primary matching funds, but it still requires him to obey the campaign finance laws on contribution limits, and reporting. It seems most likely that the FEC will ultimately choose draft “C” as policy. UPDATE: on September 2, the FEC did choose draft “C”. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news. Here is a Roll Call story about the September 2 decision, which was not made in public.

On August 31, officials of the Nebraska Libertarian Party sent letters to certain state legislators, and state election officials, suggesting that the election law be modified to make it easier for ballot-qualified parties to remain on the ballot. Specifically, the letter asks for a change in the law to provide that when a party meets the vote test to remain on the ballot, that the effect lasts four years instead of just two years.

Nebraska requires a party to poll 5% of the vote for any statewide office, every election. It is fairly easy for a minor party to poll 5% of the vote in a midterm year, when Nebraska elects five statewide state offices. But it is rare for a minor party to be able to survive in a presidential election year, when the only statewide offices up are President, and, two-thirds of the time, U.S. Senate. As a result, parties must do another petition, and elections officials must check another petition. Both parties and elections officials are put to extra expense by this policy. Thanks to Randy Eshelman for this news.