Ralph Nader Asks U.S. Attorney to Investigate 2004 Pennsylvania Challenge

Posted on by September 24, 2008
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On September 24, attorneys for Ralph Nader sent a letter to the U.S. attorney in Scranton, Pennsylvania, asking him to open an investigation into likely illegal acts committed by the people who challenged his 2004 Pennsylvania petition, and similar acts committed in 2006 against the Green Party’s petition. Although this matter is active in Pennsylvania state court, the Nader letter details the federal election laws that may also have been violated.

In addition, Nader supplemented his Federal Election Commission complaint (which he had filed in May 2008) with information about Pennsylvania that has been publicly revealed since then.

Challenger to Kentucky Libertarian U.S. House Candidate Files an Appeal

Posted on by September 23, 2008
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As noted earlier, on September 17 a Kentucky state court ruled that Libertarian candidate Edward Martin should remain on the ballot as a candidate for U.S. House, 3rd district. On September 23, the man who had challenged Martin’s ballot status filed an appeal in the State Court of Appeals. Cummings v Martin.

The issue is Martin’s voter registration. He is a registered Republican, even though he is a dues-paying member of the Kentucky Libertarian Party and is the party’s choice to run for Congress. Kentucky law says an independent candidate must not be a registered member of a qualified party. The lower court had interpreted that law not to apply to bona fide political parties, even if they are unqualified parties. The appeal brief says that legally, unqualified parties are just the same as independent candidates.

Barr Connecticut Petition

Posted on by September 23, 2008
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The effort to show that the Connecticut Libertarian statewide petition has at least 7,500 valid signatures is making good headway. The state had initially said there were only 6,999 valid signatures, but it turns out that the state made an addition error. The correct sum should have been, and is now acknowledged to be, 7,279 signatures. In addition to that, it appears that 116 petition sheets were lost while they were in the custody of either the towns, or the state. Unfortunately the Barr campaign did not make photocopies of all the sheets. In addition to all that, the Libertarian activists who are still re-validating signatures are finding signatures that are valid, but which had been improperly invalidated. That work continues.

Louisiana Decision: Barr on, Moore Off

Posted on by September 23, 2008
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On September 23, U.S. District Court Judge James Brady ruled that Bob Barr should be on the Louisiana ballot, but that co-plaintiff Brian Moore (Socialist Party nominee) should not be on. The case is Libertarian Party et al v Dardenne, 08-cv-582. The judge stayed his opinion for two days to give the state a chance to appeal to the 5th circuit.

Judge Brady differentiated between Barr and Moore by noting that the Libertarian Party is a ballot-qualified party, whereas the Socialist Party is not. He said the law gives a qualified party a three-day grace period, but that the law does not extend that to unqualified parties. The written decision is not available yet; the judge spoke orally. The written opinion should be available by 5 p.m. central time.

The judge also mentioned that one of the Socialist Party elector candidates omitted his address from the form, although that does not seem to have been a determining factor.