On June 22, Wisconsin Assemblymember Bob Ziegelbauer announced he was leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent. He is running for re-election this year as an independent. He will have a Republican and a Democratic opponent this November.
Ziegelbauer was first elected to the legislature in 1992. He was re-elected unanimously in November 2006. He left the Democratic Party after the Assembly Democratic leadership removed him from being Chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
The Arizona Libertarian Party has four candidates for Governor in its August primary this year. The Arizona Republic, the state’s largest newspaper, endorsed Barry Hess in that race on July 24. It is almost unheard of for any large daily newspaper to take the trouble to examine the candidates in a contested minor party primary, and go to the trouble of endorsing one. See the editorial here.
The Nebraska Democratic Party is holding its state convention July 24. It will almost certainly nominate Mike Meister for Governor. The primary was in May, and the candidate nominated for Governor in the primary, Mark Lakers, withdrew several weeks ago, leaving the party with no gubernatorial nominee. However, Nebraska law lets parties nominate by convention after the primary.
The Nebraska Democratic Party also has no nominees for Attorney General or Auditor. The only ballot-qualified party in Nebraska this year, other than the two major parties, will be the Libertarian Party, assuming its petition succeeds. The party needs 5,921 signatures by August 1 and expects to succeed.
On June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in Christian Legal Society v Martinez, 08-1371. This is not an election law case. It was whether Hastings Law School could require recognized student organizations to admit all Hastings students as members. The Law School won the case 5-4.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissent, which was also signed by Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice John Roberts. It contains this paragraph, “Suppose that a hated student group at a state university has never been able to attract more than 10 members. Suppose that the university administration, for the purpose of preventing that group from using the school grounds for meetings, adopts a new rule under which the use of its facilities is restricted to groups with more than 25 members. Although this rule would be neutral on its face, its adoption for a discriminatory reason would be illegal.”
That scenario is a very good analogy for the ballot access laws of many states.
Filing for candidates running for U.S. Senate in West Virginia this year closed on July 23, for candidates seeking the primary nomination of one of the three ballot-qualified parties. Three candidates filed in the Democratic primary, eleven filed in the Republican primary, and one, Jesse Johnson, in the Mountain Party primary. The primary is August 28. Here is the list of candidates.
Candidates of unqualified parties, and independent candidates, get on the November 2 ballot by filing 1,784 valid signatures by August 23, and paying the $1,740 filing fee.
