California Minor Party Gubernatorial Candidates Hold Press Conference to Publicize Lack of Inclusive Debates

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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Over half the states in which major party gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidates have debated each other have included at least one minor party or independent candidate in those debates.  However, this year in California, no statewide candidate debates between the major party nominees have included any minor party or independent candidates.

On October 6, the California minor party gubernatorial candidates held a press conference in Sacramento, to publicize the idea that California is behind the remainder of the country.  The event was sponsored by Free & Equal.  See this Sacramento Bee story.

The November 1 print edition of Ballot Access News will list the states and debates that have been inclusive, for statewide office.

Florida Court Sets October 12 Trial Date in Lawsuit over Identity of Republican Legislative Nominee

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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A Florida trial court will hold a trial on October 12 to determine if the winner of the Republican primary for one particular State Senate seat should be Jim Norman or Kevin Ambler.  The Florida primary was on August 24, and Norman defeated Ambler.  However, Ambler sued to set aside the results, on the grounds that Norman broke campaign finance laws.  See this story.  There are no Democratic, minor party or independent candidates in this race.

Libertarian Party, and Anti-Prohibition Party, Sue New York Over Refusal to Print Nominees’ Name Twice on Ballot

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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Randy Credico is the U.S. Senate nominee (full term) for the Libertarian Party of New York, and also the U.S. Senate nominee for the Anti-Prohibition Party.  On October 6 he, along with both political parties,  filed a federal lawsuit against a New York election law that doesn’t permit his name to be listed twice, even though both the parties that nominated him are on the ballot and even though New York permits fusion for qualified parties.  Neither the Libertarian Party, nor the Anti-Prohibition Party, is a qualified party in New York.  The case is Credico v New York State Board of Elections, eastern district, cv10-4555.  Here is the brief.

The judge obligingly has already held a hearing and is promising a quick decision.  The New York law says when a qualified party and an unqualified party jointly nominate a candidate for statewide office, that candidate is printed on the ballot twice, and a voter can choose which label to support.  But when two unqualified parties jointly nominate someone, the candidate’s name can be printed only once (although both party labels are next to the candidate’s name, in small print).

Ballotpedia Studies Lack of Competition in State Legislative Elections

Posted on by October 6, 2010
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Leslie Graves and Geoff Pallay, researchers at Ballotpedia, have published this report on the lack of voter choices on the ballot for state legislative races.  The report says 32.7% of legislative districts have no contest between the two major parties this year.

Ballot Access News published a somewhat similar study in the October 1, 2010 print issue, and found 36.1% of the races lack a contest between a Democrat and Republican.  The difference between the two studies is because of different treatment of multi-member districts.  The Ballotpedia study considered a district to have a Democratic-Republican contest if it elects, for example, 5 members, and there are 5 Democrats and 1 Republican running.  But the Ballot Access News study considered an example like that to lack Democratic-Republican competition for 4 seats.