Montana Governor Suggests that Pro-Gun Rights Voters Ought to Vote for Barr

Posted on by October 23, 2008
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On October 23, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat who is pro-gun rights himself, was quoted in the Missoulian newspaper as saying that there is very little difference on policy concerning gun laws between Barack Obama and John McCain. He also suggests that voters who are most concerned to protect the rights of gun owners might wish to vote for Bob Barr.

Meanwhile, an MSU-Billings Poll released on October 23 gives these results. 400 voters were included in the poll: Obama 44.4%, McCain 40.2%, Ron Paul 4.2%, Barr 1.0%, Nader .7%, undecided 9.5%. See here for more details.

NAACP Sues Pennsylvania Over Vote-Counting Machines

Posted on by October 23, 2008
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On October 23, the NAACP filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, asking that the Secretary of State direct the counties to supply emergency paper ballots if half or more of the electronic vote-counting machines fail to work. The Secretary of State has said previously that counties should only supply emergency paper ballots if all the machines in a particular precinct fail to work. The case is National Association of Colored People v Cortes, no. 08-5048, in federal court in Philadelphia. The lawsuit also asks that a sufficient supply of emergency paper ballots be printed and on hand. Here is the complaint. And here is the 37-page Memo. Thanks to Danielle Ivory for this news.

New Hampshire Poll Hints Libertarians May Regain Qualified Status

Posted on by October 23, 2008
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The New Hampshire Libertarian Party was a qualified party between November 1990 and November 1996. In 1997, after the party had lost its status for failing to poll 3% for Governor, the legislature boosted the vote test to 4% (for either Governor or U.S. Senator), and no party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties had been ballot-qualified since in New Hampshire.

On October 21, the Concord Monitor published polls for Governor and U.S. Senator. The poll only mentioned the two major party nominees. The results for Governor: Democrat John Lynch 60%, Republican Joe Kenney 34%, “other/undecided” 6%. For U.S. Senate: Jeanne Shaheen 50%, Republican John Sununu 43%, “other/undecided” 7%. Since the Libertarian nominees (Susan Newell for Governor and Ken Blevens for U.S. Senate) are the only other choices on the ballot, the poll tends to support the idea that either one of them, or both, may hit 4%. The Concord Monitor is very unthougthful to pay for a poll that only mentions two of the three ballot-listed candidates, if the newspaper is really interested in getting high-quality poll results.

Massachusetts Appeals Presidential Substitution Lawsuit to First Circuit

Posted on by October 23, 2008
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On October 22, the Massachusetts Secretary of State asked the First Circuit to reverse the injunctive relief that had been granted by a U.S. District Court on September 22, in Barr v Galvin. This is the case over whether Massachusetts was constitutionally required to let the Libertarian Party use a stand-in on its presidential petition. The appeal will not affect this year’s ballot.

Only four states (besides Massachusetts, which always had trouble making up its mind) have ever definitively refused to let unqualified parties use presidential substitution. Those states are New Hampshire, Maine, Alabama, and South Dakota. By a strange coincidence, the First Circuit includes New Hampshire and Maine. Therefore, if Massachusetts Secretary of State loses again in the First Circuit, that will have beneficial effects on New Hampshire and Maine.

The basis for allowing unqualified parties to use substitution is that all states let qualified parties use it. This was illustrated in 1972, when the Democratic National Convention chose Thomas Eagleton in July, but replaced him in August, after the original ticket had been certified to all states.