On August 6, Arizona Superior Court Judge Mark H. Brain ruled that the initiative for a top-two open primary violates the single-subject rule, and therefore cannot be on the ballot. He found that the portion of the initiative that eliminates elections for party committeemember is not the same subject as imposing a top-two primary for public office. The decision is Save Our Vote v Bennett, cv2012-010717. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story about the decision.

It is extremely likely that the proponents will appeal this decision to the Arizona Supreme Court. The decision does not say, but it is true, that the other top-two primary states continue to let voters choose party officers. This is true in California, Louisiana, and Washington state.

The decision is three pages and says, “The Open Government Committee claims that ‘the only change is that the publicly funded partisan primary through which the parties selected those party officers in the past will no longer provide a venue to select those officers, because it will no longer exist.’ But that’s not what the initiative says. It would be one thing if the initiative provided that candidates for such offices (party offices) will no longer appear on the non-partisan primary ballot – such a provision would directly relate to how the primary election would work. Instead, this provision prohibits state assistance in any form or forum and at any time.” The initiative says, “Political parties may establish such procedures as they see fit to elect party officers, but no such procedures shall be paid for or subsidized using public funds.”

The question is not whether using public funds to elect party officers is good or bad policy, but whether using public funds to elect party officers is the same subject, or a different subject, that changing the method by which public officers are elected.

The Georgia petition deadline for minor party and independent petitions has now passed. No group or individual turned in a petition for any statewide office, and none was turned in for U.S. House either. No statewide minor party or independent petition for statewide office has succeeded in Georgia since 2000. No U.S. House petition, in a regularly-scheduled election, has succeeded in Georgia since 1964. Back in 1964, petitions were not checked, did not need to be notarized, and were not due until October of the election year.

The Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified for statewide office in Georgia, but not for district or county office. The Green Party and Constitution Party have a lawsuit pending against the presidential petition procedure.

Although, as already reported, only one unqualified party, the Libertarian Party, submitted a petition to be on the November ballot statewide in West Virginia, there was also an independent presidential petition submitted. The independent presidential candidate is Randall Terry, famous for fighting against legal abortion for many decades. He submitted 11,433 to meet a requirement of 7,135.

The signatures for both petitions are being checked by the counties. The counties are supposed to finish by August 13. The Green Party is ballot-qualified in West Virginia so did not need to file a petition. The Libertarian petition includes a candidate for Governor, as well as for President and Vice-President. Assuming the Libertarian petition has enough valid signatures, it is fairly likely that the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate will poll at least 1% of the vote, and give the party qualified status for four years. There will be four gubernatorial candidates on the November ballot at most. This is the first time the Libertarian Party has been on the ballot for Governor in West Virginia since 2000, when it polled .86% in a five-candidate race.