Justin Kounelias, a producer and writer, has this article about the authority of Democratic and Republican national presidential conventions to choose the party’s nominees for president and vice-president, even when that contradicts the results of presidential primaries. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
For the third year in a row, the Mississippi legislature has failed to pass any bill or proposed constitutional amendment to restore the initiative process. Although bills to restore the initiative advanced in both chambers this year, they didn’t advance far enough, and now it is too late for them to pass this year. See this story.
On March 20, Kari Lake and Mark Fincham asked the U.S. Supreme Court to expedite considration of their lawsuit, Lake v Fontes, 23-1021. This is the case filed by two Republican candidates in Arizona who want to stop the use of Arizona’s vote-counting equipment. Lake and Fincham filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on March 14. So far the state still hasn’t even indicated whether it plans to file an opposition brief. Often states don’t bother to do that, unless the Court asks them to. Here is the brief asking for expedited treatment.
Andre Sandford, a member of the American Independent Party, appears to have placed second in the March 5, 2024 California primary for Assembly, 18th district, in Oakland. The ballots are almost all counted and he has 4,389 votes. The only Democrat in the race has 73,040 votes; the two Republicans have 4,389 votes and 4,004 votes.
Assuming the final vote count holds up, he will be the first minor party member since the California top-two system started to reach the general election ballot in a race with both a Republican and a Democrat also running. This sentence is true for congressional races and partisan state offices. It does not relate to the presidential election, because top-two does not affect presidential elections.
Here is Sandford’s campaign website.
On March 21, the Missouri Republican Party filed a lawsuit in state court to force the Secretary of State to remove Darrell McClanahan from its primary ballot. He is running for Governor and is an honorary member of the Ku Klux Klan. The party says it has a freedom of association right to keep candidates off its primary ballot if the candidate’s values conflict with the party’s values. Missouri Republican State Committee v Secretary of State, Cole Co. Circuit Court, 24AC-cc02151.
