As originally introduced, Connecticut HB 5498 made it illegal for any party to have “Independent” as part of its name. However, the Independent Party has successfully managed to get that part of the bill deleted. The bill has many other election law provisions relating to ballot-counting and it will probably pass, but without the section on party names.
On April 23, U.S. District Court Judge William Ray, a Trump appointee, refused injunctive relief to the Catoosa County Republican Party. The party wanted some candidates for County Commission excluded from the Republican primary ballot of May 21. The party claims the candidates are not bona fide Republicans. Catoosa County Republican Party v Catoosa County Board of Elections, 4:24cv-95.
The judge said the party filed its federal lawsuit too late, and also doubted that the party’s freedom of association would be injured if the candidates remained on the ballot. He also noted that the party has a similar case pending in the Georgia Supreme Court, although that court won’t hear the case until after the primary.
The ruling also rejected the party’s attempt to place some ballot measures on the primary ballot, partly because of time constraints, and also because the ballot measures implied that the challenged candidates are really “anti-Trump Democrats”. Although parties have a right to place advisory questions on their own primary ballots, the questions aren’t permitted if they relate to candidates whose names are appearing on the same primary ballot.
Georgia does not have registration by party.
The Federal Election Commission has published a new edition of its publication, “Campaign Guide for Political Party Committees. See this announcement. Thanks to Eric Wong for the link.
The Constitution Party national convention will choose a presidential nominee on Saturday, April 27, in Salt Lake City. There is a somewhat surprising lack of news in mainstream media about the upcoming convention. The party’s presidential nominee will probably be on the ballot in more states than Cornel West, and yet national polls often include West and never include any Constitution Party potential nominee. The two leading candidates for the party’s nomination appear to be Randall Terry (long-time activist against legal abortion) and Joel Skousen, part of a famous family.
The Sixth Circuit will hear Libertarian National Committee v Saliba, 23-1856, on Tuesday, June 11, at 1 p.m. This is the Michigan Libertarian Party intra-party dispute. The U.S. District Court had ruled that, whiole the case is pending, the Libertarian National Committee can use its trademark to choose sides.
