On June 12, John Hospers died at the age of 93. He had been the Libertarian Party’s first presidential candidate. He ran in 1972, and only appeared on the ballot in two states, but he made history by receiving an electoral vote. Thanks to Wayne Root for this news.
The Coalition for Free & Open Elections holds an annual meeting every spring. The minutes of the March 27, 2011 meeting are now posted at COFOE’s web page, www.cofoe.org.
COFOE was formed in 1985. It works to ease the legal environment for minor parties and independent candidates. Most of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, as well as certain other organizations, are members. Each organization member is entitled to a representative on the COFOE Board. In recent years, COFOE uses its income to help pay for lawsuits that improve ballot access laws for independent candidates. One of the most successful COFOE-financed lawsuits was Lee v Keith, in which the 7th circuit struck down Illinois’ ballot access laws for independent candidates for the legislature. Thanks to Kevin Murphy, COFOE’s webmaster, for this news.
Mississippi elects all of its state legislators in the odd years before presidential elections. All legislators have 4-year terms. In the 2011 election, the Libertarian, Reform, and Constitution Parties have candidates for the legislature. The Libertarians are: Harold M. Taylor, Sean Holmes, Jan “Jay” Butler, and Donna Knezevich (all are running for State House). The Reform Party candidates are Lajena Williams, Yasming Johnson (each running for State Senate), and Randy Walker (for State House). The Constitution Party candidate is James Overstreet (for State Senate).
The Libertarian Party has never before had any nominees for the Mississippi State House, although it had one for Mississippi State Senate in 1995. The Reform Party has never before had any nominees for the Mississippi legislature. The Constitution Party had eight nominees for the Mississippi legislature in 2007.
Mississippi is also electing its state executive positions this year. The Reform Party is the only minor party that has any statewide nominees. There is also one independent running for Governor. There are twelve independent candidates for the legislature this year.
The June 6 issue of The Militant, weekly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party, has this editorial criticizing President Obama’s new executive order that requires government contractors to reveal extension information about their political donations and other political activity. For forty years, the Socialist Workers Party has been the most consistent voice on the left in opposition to campaign finance disclosure requirements.
The June 9 print edition of the New York Times has this story, about how China is permitting elections for local office, but does not permit candidates to get on the ballot unless the government approves them.
