The October 18 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer has this op-ed by Oliver Hall, explaining why Pennsylvania is the only large-population state this year with a Democratic-Republican ballot monopoly for all statewide offices.
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The five ballot-listed candidates for Governor of Maine debated each other in Bangor on October 11. See this story.
On October 8, California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, one of the leading proponents of the new “top-two” system in California (which is effective in 2011), filed a brief in the California State Court of Appeals, in the lawsuit Field v Bowen. That lawsuit had been filed to challenge the ban on counting write-ins in November elections for Congress and state office, and the discriminatory feature that says members of unqualified parties may not have any party label on ballots. The Maldonado brief seems to say that members of unqualified parties may list their party on ballots. This is a reversal of the position that Maldonado took in the lower court.
Maldonado is in the case as an Intervenor. His October 8 brief says “One plausible interpretation of these provisions is that SB 6 (the implementing language for the top-two system) does not bar candidates registered with non-qualified parties from disclosing their preference for those parties on the ballot. This is an issue that Real Party Secretary of State will likely have to address in connection with future elections.”
To the extent that Maldonado is saying that the label provision is permissive and treats all candidates equally, he is contradicting the Defendants in the case, the Secretary of State and various county election officials. The Defendants continue to maintain that SB 6 does not permit members of unqualified parties to place a party label on the ballot.
Both the Superior Court and the State Court of Appeals have refused to issue a preliminary injunction against any aspect of the “top-two” system, mostly on the grounds that the system doesn’t start until the first special election of 2011, and so far there is no special election set for 2011.
On October 17, the Philadelphia Libertarian Party sent a courteous, formal letter to the Philadelphia County elections office, notifying the county of who the Libertarian write-in nominees are, and asking that write-ins be counted and tallied.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court long ago ruled that the state Constitution requires write-in space on Pennsylvania ballots. And the election law says that all votes are to be counted and tallied, even write-in votes. Nevertheless, Philadelphia election officials routinely ignore all write-in votes and never even mention how many were cast, much less revealing who received them. This policy of Philadelphia and certain other counties is being challenged in a case now pending in the 3rd circuit. It would be a good idea for the Libertarian Party to send similar notices to other counties, and also a good idea for the Green, Constitution, and Socialist Workers Parties to send similar letters. All these parties have write-in candidates for Pennsylvania statewide office this year.
The Socialist Workers statewide write-in candidates are: Brian Nevins for Governor, and Osborne Hart for U.S. Senate.
The Constitution Party statewide write-in candidates are: John Krupa for Governor, Ed Roberson for Lieutenant Governor, and Donald John for U.S. Senate.
The Green Party statewide write-in candidate is: Mel Packer for U.S. Senate.
The Libertarian statewide write-in candidates, mentioned in the letter, are: Marakay Rogers for Governor, Kat Valleley for Lieutenant Governor, and Douglas M. Jamison for U.S. Senate.
Pennsylvania is the only large-population state this year to have a complete Democratic-Republican ballot monopoly for all statewide offices.
The Constitution Party lost its status as a qualified party in Wisconsin in 2006, because it failed to run any statewide candidates that year. Wisconsin requires parties to poll 1% of the vote for any statewide race in midterm years, in order to remain ballot-qualified.
This year, the Constitution Party used the independent petition method to place a nominee on the ballot for U.S. Senate. He has the ballot label “Constitution Party.” Therefore, if he polls at least 1% of the vote, the party will again be qualified. The nominee is Robert Taylor. He is the only candidate on the ballot for U.S. Senate, other than the two major party nominees.
Twice before the Constitution Party has had a nominee on the ballot in Wisconsin for U.S. Senate, but neither time did the nominee poll as much as 1%. However, in both those previous instances, there were at least four candidates on the ballot.