A U.S. District Court Judge will hear Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted on Tuesday, August 30, at 9 a.m. The case argues that (1) the new Ohio ballot access law is still unconstitutional; (2) regardless of that, due process is violated by the sudden way in which it is being implemented.
On August 15, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Expedited Proceedings, in the ballot access lawsuit that it filed early this month. The party argues that the case deserves expedited hearing because the Secretary of State has even canceled the party’s ballot status for the 2011 partisan local elections that it had been intending to participate in. The case is Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 2:11-cv-722.
This lengthy article in The Guardian (of Great Britain) reports that Michael Moore’s idea that movie actor Matt Damon should run for President is getting some attention. Moore wants Damon to run in 2012 Democratic presidential primaries.
This article describes active campaigning being carried out by Carl Lewis, the Democratic Party nominee for State Senate in New Jersey’s 8th district. Lewis was a well-known Olympic track star in the past. As the article explains, neither he nor anyone else knows whether he will be on the November 8, 2011 ballot. A state court ruled that he does not meet the state constitutional residency requirement, but he has a lawsuit pending in federal court arguing that the state residency requirement violates the U.S. Constitution.
The Libertarian Party and the Green Party are both increasing the rate at which they are petitioning for 2012 ballot status. Libertarians are attempting the Oklahoma party petition, and have 7,600 signatures so far. 51,739 valid signatures are required. The party still expects to bring a lawsuit against the new March petition deadline in Oklahoma.
In New Hampshire, the Libertarian Party petition, which hasn’t been attempted by any group since 2000, now has 1,100 signatures. 13,698 are required. New Hampshire petitioning is especially difficult because only one signature may appear on a petition sheet.
Greens are now petitioning in New Mexico and Hawaii, and also attempts are being made to organize the Vermont Green Party. In Vermont, a party doesn’t need a petition if it shows that it has at least town committees in any ten towns. The Vermont Green Party hasn’t met the Vermont organization test since 2002, although in 2004 it used the alternate petition to put some of its statewide nominees on the ballot.
