The June 3-9 issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian has this op-ed, explaining that if Proposition 14 passes, ballot retention for qualified parties in California will become substantially more difficult.
This aspect of Proposition 14 has not been mentioned in any California newspaper story, except for two earlier stories in the San Francisco Chronicle. Proposition 62, the previous top-two ballot measure in California, did not have this characteristic.
Oklahoma has very easy ballot access for independent candidates, for all office except President. This year two Libertarians are running for Congress in Oklahoma as independents. They are Angelia O’Dell for U.S. House, 1st district, and Clark Duffe, U.S. House, 5th district. They are the first Libertarians to run for Congress in Oklahoma since 2002.
It would be good strategy for other minor parties to also run for federal and state office as independents in Oklahoma this year. If there are a good number of minor party candidates, they can let voters know that they are really minor party candidates, and that it is the fault of Oklahoma election laws that their true party preference is being hidden on the ballot. Thanks to Bill Redpath for the news about the two Libertarian candidates.
On June 1, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party filed this brief in the First Circuit. The case is Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 10-1360. The brief is 58 pages, but that apparent great length is partly due to the attachments. The argument itself is 21 pages.
The first issue in the case is whether the U.S. Constitution requires New Hampshire to let unqualified parties substitute the name of the actual presidential candidate for a stand-in listed on the party’s presidential candidate petition. New Hampshire, Maine, South Dakota, and Alabama are the only states that have been asked to approve presidential substitution and which have refused. The basis for the claim is that all states let the qualified parties make such substitutions. For example, in July 1972, the Democratic national convention chose Thomas Eagleton for vice-president. But in August, Eagleton resigned from the ticket and the Democratic national committee substituted Sargent Shriver. All states printed Shriver’s name on their general election ballots.
The reason unqualified parties use substitution is that they frequently wish to complete their presidential candidate ballot access petition before they have held their national convention. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze, issued in 1983, said it violates the U.S. Constitution for parties to force independent campaigns, and minor parties, to choose their presidential candidates before the major parties choose theirs.
The second issue is that, given that the New Hampshire Secretary of State refused to let the party use substitution in 2008 (thus forcing the party to complete a second petition, naming Bob Barr), whether it was proper for the Secretary of State to have printed “Libertarian” on the November ballot not only next to Bob Barr’s name, but also next to George Phillies’ name. Both candidates appeared on the November ballot in the “Other candidates” column, as presidential candidates, and each had “Libertarian” next to his name. Bob Barr received 2,217 votes in November in New Hampshire, and George Phillies received 531 votes. The brief does not argue that Phillies should have been kept off the ballot. It does argue that the “Libertarian” label should not have been used for both candidates.
The U.S. District Court decision was written by a federal Magistrate. The Magistrate seems not to have read the party’s briefs in U.S. District Court. The Magistrate’s decision says the party wanted Phillies off the ballot, even though the party’s briefs clearly indicated that is not what the party was seeking. On the substitution issue, the Magistrate simply asserted that there is no constitutional right for an unqualified party to substitute a new name. The Magistrate did not mention any of the precedents that do find a constitutional right for substitution. Such precedents are from Florida (one from 1980 won by John Anderson, and one from 1996 won by Harry Browne), Massachusetts (won by Bob Barr in 2008), and one from Virginia (won in 1989 by an independent candidate for state office). The Massachusetts substitution lawsuit is also pending in the First Circuit, because Massachusetts appealed. The Massachusetts substitution case is peculiar. Massachusetts permits presidential substitution, but only if the group’s national convention is in July, August or September. Massachusetts Secretary of State arbitrarily says it will not approve presidential substitution if the party’s national convention is before the petition deadline.
The Massachusetts House has started debate on the National Popular Vote Plan bill. There will probably be a vote by the end of the week. See this story.
The plan has already been approved by 5 states. It won’t go into effect until states containing a majority of the electoral college have passed it.
The Resource Party appears to have placed its nominees on the Minnesota ballot for the joint ticket of Governor-Lieutenant Governor, and also Attorney General. The gubernatorial nominee is Linda S. Eno. See here for the party’s platform. Thanks to Oliver Steinberg for this news.
An older party, the Grassroots Party, also appears to have made a comeback in Minnesota this year, placing its nominees on for the Governor-Lieutenant Governor as well as Auditor. The Grassroots Party emphasizes legalizing marijuana. It had placed nominees on the ballot in Minnesota in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000. It never polled the 5% for any statewide office needed to make it a qualified party.
The Independence Party, Minnesota’s only ballot-qualified party other than the Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican Parties, has five candidates for governor in its August 10 primary. The Green Party, which is not ballot-qualified, also qualified a few nominees for statewide office in Minnesota this year. Finally, Ken Pentel, a former member of the Green Party, has also filed a gubernatorial petition under the label “Ecology Democracy.” See this article about him.
