According to this story, Portsmouth, Virginia, a large charter city, has a filing deadline of June 5 for candidates running for Mayor and city council this year. However, the city had publicized the idea that the deadline is June 12. It is expected that the city will not enforce the June 5 deadline.
On May 30, Maceo D. Dixon died. He collapsed while at work, and was age 63. He had been the Socialist Workers Party nominee for U.S. House, 5th Georgia district, in 1982. He is one of only two minor party nominees who ever submitted enough signatures to, in theory, have a chance to qualify for U.S. House in Georgia, ever since the 5% petition was instituted in 1943.
Dixon did not get on the ballot, however. Even though he submitted approximately 50% more signatures than were required, election officials said not enough were valid. The only other minor party member who ever submitted enough signatures to run for U.S. House in Georgia was Libertarian Wayne Parker, who also submitted approximately 50% more signatures than were required. He ran in 2002 in the 11th district. He was also told that his petition lacked sufficient signatures. There have also been a few independent candidates in Georgia who tried very hard, but none succeeded in meeting the 5% petition requirement since 1964. Thanks to The Militant for the news about Dixon.
Georgia does not require any signatures in special congressional elections, and in a few special congressional elections, there have been minor party candidates on the ballot.
According to this story, Montgomery County, Maryland, officials are trying to disqualify a referendum petition from the ballot because two of the circulators are ex-felons. However, any adult in Maryland is legally qualified to circulate a petition.
The story has more human interest than it would otherwise, because the sponsor of the referendum is the union that represents police officers. Also one of the two circulators is a fugitive. Thanks to Eric Garris for the link.
See this story. The process by which major party candidates in South Carolina are being disqualified from the June 12 primary continues. It is too late to delete any names from the primary ballot, but if this challenge is successful, the votes for the affected candidates will be considered void.
According to this story, Roseanne Barr is toying with the idea of running for President in November, even though it is extremely unlikely she will win the Green Party nomination. Her ballot label might conceivably be the Green Tea Party. There has been some indication that her backers in Minnesota are thinking of circulating a general election petition for her with that label.
In 2000, Minnesota allowed both the “Reform Party” and the “Reform Party Minnesota” to appear on the November ballot. Each group used the independent candidate petition, which allows a partisan label. John Hagelin had the “Reform Party” label and Pat Buchanan had the “Reform Party Minnesota” label.
Major parties and minor parties alike have been injured by the U.S. electoral college system, in which all the power to determine the presidential nominee of a party is in the hands of the state party officials and activists, and national convention decisions have no binding force. In 1968 the Alabama Democratic Party said George Wallace was its presidential nominee. In 1948, the Democratic Parties of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina said Strom Thurmond was their presidential nominee. In 1912 the Republican Parties of California and South Dakota said Theodore Roosevelt was their presidential nominee. In 2000, the Arizona Libertarian Party said L. Neil Smith was its presidential nominee.
