A lower state court judge in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, has ruled that the new state law, saying unopposed candidates should be left off general election ballots (if they are running for local partisan office), should not be followed. Two similar rulings have already been made this year in other parts of Indiana. See this story.
On October 5, Americans Elect announced that it is about to start circulating its petition to be a party in Tennessee. See this story. If the group succeeds, it will be the first time any group has successfully completed the Tennessee party petition since 1968.
The old procedure was held unconstitutional in 2010, but the 2011 legislature made only miniscule improvements. The legislature did not reduce the number of signtures, which is 40,042 (2.5% of the 2010 gubernatorial vote). The legislature moved the petition deadline from March to April. A lawsuit now pending in U.S. District Court, filed by the Constitution and Green Parties, alleges that the early April petition deadline is still too early.
In this interview, Donald Trump implies he is happy with the Republican presidential candidates, and that he has no interest in running as an independent. Thanks to Politico for the link.
Matt Miller, a Washington Post columnist who has already written supportedly about Americans Elect, has this new column. He says Americans Elect ought to run candidates for Congress as well as President. His column also reveals some interesting details about the Americans Elect presidential nomination process.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story about Americans Elect, which is currently circulating a petition to qualify itself as a party for statewide office in Georgia. The article says Americans Elect has 20 petitioners working in that state.
No statewide petition in Georgia has succeeded since 2000, when Pat Buchanan completed an independent candidate petition. Statewide minor party and independent candidate petitions need 1% of the number of registered voters. The Green Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Constitution Party, never appeared on a statewide ballot in Georgia. Georgia is one of four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot. The others are Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Indiana.
The Journal-Constitution story says Americans Elect needs 45,707 valid signatures, but actually they need 57,956. UPDATE: the Georgia Secretary of State’s office says the requirement is 1% of the number of active registered voters, and that the number of inactive registered voters is immaterial. Therefore, the requirement is 50,334 valid signatures.
