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New Hampshire Bill, Restricting Flexibility of Newly-Qualifying Parties, is Signed into Law

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard WingerJune 12, 2012

On May 31, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch signed SB 236 into law. It says that newly-qualifying parties must identify their nominees in June, even though the petition to qualify that party is not due until August. The bill takes effect immediately. The only party that is adversely affected this year is the Libertarian Party, which is the only newly-qualifying party expected to successfully petition in New Hampshire this year. If the bill had not passed, the Libertarians would have more time to recruit more candidates. See this story. In New Hampshire, newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention.

The bill does not affect independent candidates. The bill is probably unconstitutional, at least as applied to a newly-qualifying party that has not yet chosen its presidential nominee by June. However, the Libertarians already chose their national ticket in May. If Americans Elect had not dropped out of the 2012 presidential race, and if it hadn’t chosen its national ticket by mid-June, then Americans Elect would have been in a good position to sue New Hampshire. New Hampshire is the only state in the nation in which no minor party or independent candidate has ever won a constitutional ballot access case.

The New Hampshire primary (for office other than President) is on September 11. The bill is discriminatory, because it forces newly-qualifying parties to nominate their candidates three months before the major parties must nominate.

Jesse Ventura Virtually Endorses Gary Johnson

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard WingerJune 12, 2012

On June 12, CNN broadcast an interview with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. Venture said voters who really want to rebel ought to vote for Gary Johnson. See this story. Thanks to Starchild for the link.

Arizona Election Returns, Special U.S. House Election

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard WingerJune 12, 2012

Here is a link to the Arizona Secretary of State’s web page, showing election returns for U.S. House, 8th district, special election. The ballot had Democratic, Republican, and Green Party nominees. The Democratic nominee is winning. The Green nominee has 2.48% (as of 8:40 p.m. Arizona time). By comparison, the Green Party had three U.S. House nominees in Arizona in November 2010, and they averaged 1.65% of the vote.

All Three Libertarian Statewide Candidates Poll Enough Votes in North Dakota Primary to Advance to November Election

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard WingerJune 12, 2012

North Dakota held its primary on June 12, for the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties. North Dakota has an open primary, which means any voter can choose any party’s primary ballot. The primary ballots are all printed on a single sheet of paper, and the voter decides in the privacy of the voting booth which primary he or she will participate in. North Dakota law requires candidates for statewide office to poll at least 300 votes in the primary, in order to advance to the November ballot. All three Libertarian candidates for statewide office met the requirement.

The Constitution Party did not have any candidates, but the state still printed primary ballots for it. In theory, a write-in candidate could have been nominated, but no write-in candidate polled enough votes to be nominated.

The Libertarian Party was disadvantaged in this primary because the state printed the Libertarian Party primary ballot on the back of the ballot, whereas the other three parties were printed on the front. But that problem was overcome. Here is a link to the Secretary of State’s web page, giving election returns. Not all votes have been counted yet.

South Carolina Feature Story Describes One Candidate’s Attempt to Obtain Enough Signatures to Qualify as an Independent

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Richard WingerJune 12, 2012

The South Carolina press has carried many stories about this year’s primaries, in which 250 major party candidates for legislature and county office were eliminated from the primary ballots due to a technicality. Some of these candidates are now running as independent candidates, and are working on their petition drives. The deadline is July 16. See this story about one particular candidate’s petitioning activity. The requirement is 5% of the number of registered voters, which is quite difficult.

South Carolina has only had one independent in the legislature in the entire period starting in 1896. He is Jim Cromer, who was elected as an independent in 1990 and re-elected as an independent three more times. Chances are, in the November 2012 election, several individuals will be elected as independent candidates, even though they will then consider themselves members of one of the two major parties.