On Thursday, August 22, the Alaska Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the initiative to repeal the top-four system should remain on the ballot. The lower court had kept it on the ballot. See this story.
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The American Independent Party of California had already nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for president this year. But California passed a law last year mandating that parties certify their presidential nominees by August 22, one of the earliest such deadlines in the nation. And because of that deadline, the party will probably choose a new nominee soon, even before the Kennedy press conference set for August 23.
The most likely outcome is that the AIP will nominate Donald Trump, who is also the Republican nominee. In 2016 the party had nominated Trump, and he had appeared on the November ballot with both party labels.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will hold a press conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday, August 23, to discuss his campaign. There is some expectation that he will withdraw. The conference is at 2 p.m. eastern time.
If he does withdraw, he is free to leave his name on state ballots, or he is free to ask the states to remove his name.
Ross Perot withdrew on July 17, 1992, but he did not ask any state to remove his name from the ballot. In fact he asked them not to remove him. He re-entered the race on October 1, 1992, and appeared on the ballot in every state.
There have been presidential candidates on the ballot who had never even asked to be on the ballot, but because other persons or parties put them on the ballot, and the candidate did not ask to be removed, the name appeared on the ballot. Examples are Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus in 1960, General Douglas MacArthur in 1952, Senator Harry Byrd in 1956, and Ron Paul in 2008.
On August 21, the Ohio Secretary of State said his office has determined that four independent presidential petitions have enough valid signatures, and two do not.
The two that do not are for Claudia De la Cruz and Shiva Ayyadurai. Probably De la Cruz would have had enough, except that some of the petition sheets didn’t have a copy of the declaration of candidacy attached. Ohio is believed to be the only state that requires petitions to include a copy of the declaration.
The four that have enough are for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jill Stein, Peter Sonski, and Richard Duncan. This is the first time an American Solidarity Party presidential candidate has qualified in Ohio, and represents the most difficult petition drive the party has completed in its history. The requirement is 5,000 signatures.
Richard Duncan is an Ohio resident who has run for president in his home state several times before, but he generally doesn’t petition in any other state.
The qualified parties in Ohio are Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian.
On August 21, the Maine Secretary of State ruled that the Cornel West petition challenge should not prevail. See this story. The challengers said that signatures with a month and day, but no year, are not valid, but that was rejected. The challengers also said people must sign with their legal name, not a nickname, and that was defeated also.