Fox network and Google, co-sponsors of the September 22 Republican presidential debate, have invited Gary Johnson into that debate, according to this Politico story. The Florida Republican Party opposed the invitation and will not print his name on the party’s straw poll ballot.
On September 19, the Ninth Circuit ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear an appeal of the U.S. District Court decision Idaho Republican Party v Ysursa. In that case, on March 2, 2011, the U.S. District Court had ruled that if the Republican Party wants to exclude sympathizers of other parties from its primaries, it may do so. The state, which had lost this case, did not appeal, and changed its election law to let qualified parties close their primaries.
Voters in Idaho who did not agree with the U.S. District Court decision, and who had been permitted to intervene in the case while it was in the U.S. District Court, appealed to the 9th circuit. But the 9th circuit said, “As a general rule, if a challenged law is repealed or expires, the case becomes moot.”
Opponents of the closed Republican Party in Idaho are free to file a new lawsuit, alleging that the new law is unconstitutional, although such a case would probably lose. The new law permits parties that wish to retain open primaries to do so, and the other qualified parties in Idaho (Democratic, Libertarian, Constitution) are expected to retain open primaries for themselves.
On September 25, the Green Party national steering committee will begin voting on a location for the 2012 national convention. Baltimore and Sacramento have submitted bids. Both cities propose dates for the convention of July 13-15, 2012.
The Green Party 2008 convention was July 10-12. The party’s 2004 and 2000 national conventions were in late June.
On November 8, Virginia elects a new legislature. Virginia has 100 House seats, all of which are up. In only 29 districts will voters see both a Democrat and a Republican on the ballot. Most districts only have one person on the ballot. Also running for the 100 House seats are five independent candidates, two Independent Green Party nominees, and two Libertarians.
Long-time independent House member Lacey Putney is running for re-election again. He has opponents from both major parties. He is age 83, and has been re-elected as an independent candidate every two years, starting in 1971, for a total of twenty elections in a row. Before he was an independent, he had been in the legislature for ten years as a Democrat.
In the 40 State Senate contests, there are three independent candidates and one nominee of the Independent Green Party.
Arizona has registration by party. Traditionally, the voter registration form section for “Party Preference” has just consisted of a blank line, and anyone filling out the form can write in the name of a party. Voters who leave it blank are classed as independents.
This year, the legislature passed HB 2701, dealing with voter registration. It says that the voter registration form shall list the two largest political parties, based on existing voter registration data. So, the new form has three checkboxes: “Republican”, “Democratic”, and “Other”. Under the “Other” box is a line that is only eleven-sixteenths of an inch long, and only one-eighth of an inch tall.
During the last 30 years, and perhaps all the way back to the beginning of voter registration forms, no state previously printed voter registration forms that list some parties that are entitled to their own primary, but not all parties that are entitled to their own primary. Therefore, there is no case law on whether a form like this violates equal protection. The form is especially unfair to Libertarians, because a person with normal handwriting could not even fit the word “Libertarian” into a space that small. Similarly, it is difficult to fit the word “independent” into that space. However, presumably, if a voter leaves the entire section blank, that voter will be classed as an independent.
Besides the two major parties, the Americans Elect, Green, and Libertarian Parties are entitled to a primary in 2012 in Arizona.
