Although an Alaska state trial court recently ruled that the initiative to repeal the top-four system has enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, opponents of that initiative have persuaded the Alaska Supreme Court to review that decision. See this story.
On July 29, the Maine Secretary of State says the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. petition has enough valid signatures. See here.
On July 28, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld Mississippi’s law that allows five days for voted absentee ballots to arrive in the elections office. Republican National Committee v Wetzel, s.d., 1:24cv-37. The Libertarian Party of Mississippi had filed a very similar lawsuit, 1:24cv-37, and the two cases had been combined.
The plaintiffs argued that federal law sets the election day and that an “election” is not held until the ballots arrive in the elections office. The judge disagreed. Here is the opinion.
July 29 is the New Jersey petition deadline for independent presidential candidates and the presidential candidates of unqualified parties. Nine presidential candidates submitted petitions: independents Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Shiva Ayyadurai; and the nominees of the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, American Solidarity, Socialism & Liberation, Socialist Workers Parties, and Socialist Equality Parties.
Shiva Ayyadurai was born in India and a news story says that the Secretary of State will need to decide whether to print his name on the ballot. The story did not mention that New Jersey has an unbroken tradition of putting ineligible presidential candidates on the November ballot. They include the Socialist Workers Party presidential candidates in 1972, 2004, and 2008 (Linda Jeness and Roger Calero); the Prohibition Party vice-presidential nominee in 1892 (James Cranfill); the Workers World Party candidate in 1988 (Larry Holmes); and the 2008 vice-presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (Eugene Puryear).
Ayyadurai’s ballot label is “Dr. Shiva.” This post has been updated to include the Socialist Equality Party nominee.
On July 29, a New Jersey state trial court judge rejected the challenge to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s petition on procedural grounds. He said the challenger should first have asked the Secretary of State to decide on the challenge. See this story.
UPDATE: here is the decision.
Hopefully the New Jersey Secretary of State knows that New Jersey’s “sore loser” law does not apply to presidential candidates, as the records will show that both in 1988 and 1992, a candidate who ran in the Democratic presidential primary also qualified as an independent candidate that year. The candidates were David Duke in 1988 and Lyndon LaRouche in 1992.
