A U.S. District Court in Charleston, West Virginia, has set a hearing in Barr v Ireland for August 27 (Wednesday), at 1:30 p.m. The case challenges the August 1 petition deadline for presidential independent candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties. 2:08cv-0990.
The New Hampshire Libertarian Party’s position on whether to participate in a proposed lawsuit on substitution is not clear. I have just arrived home from a vacation and this evening, it is too late for me to telephone any New Hampshire Libertarian Party officials.
New Hampshire ballot access is far worse than most people realize. The Green Party has only succeeded in getting on the New Hampshire ballot statewide once, in 2000. The Natural Law Party failed in both 1996 and 2000 in New Hampshire. The Constitution Party failed in both 2004 and 2008 in New Hampshire. The Libertarian Party failed for president in two states in 2004, New Hampshire and Oklahoma. Also, in 2006, the Libertarian Party had only two statewide petition failures, Alabama and New Hampshire.
New Hampshire’s legislature has been very hostile to minor party and independent candidate ballot access. Many bills to improve the law have been introduced during the past ten years, but none of them passed in either House. The Secretary of State is hostile, and the legislature will not approve any election law change that he opposes.
The best way to persuade a state legislature to improve ballot access laws is to win a lawsuit against one of the ballot access laws. The New Hampshire policy forbidding substitution can probably be defeated in court, if the New Hampshire Libertarian Party will help that effort. New Hampshire is one of only two states which has never had any ballot access law declared unconstitutional. A winning lawsuit on substitution could be the key to winning additional ballot access reform in New Hampshire. The substitution lawsuit is an opportunity that should not be wasted.
The recent publicity that Mike Bloomberg and Ron Paul will appear on the Virginia ballot as candidates for president and vice-president is wrong. Although the Independent Green Party of Virginia did circulate a petition for president with those candidates’ names on it, Virginia law explicitly gives the petitioning group the right to substitute. The Independent Green Party of Virginia has promised to place the Constitution Party national ticket on the ballot, via substitution. Meanwhile, the Independent Green Party of Virginia has been enjoying the publicity.
Also, reports that the Independent Green Party of Virginia got 70,000 signatures on its presidential petition are also wrong. The party got 70,000 raw signatures for all its candidates put together. Virginia requires separate petitions for each candidate, so the 70,000 figure was arrived at by totaling the party’s presidential petition, its U.S. Senate petition, and its various petitions for U.S. House.
The recent publicity that Mike Bloomberg and Ron Paul will appear on the Virginia ballot as candidates for president and vice-president is wrong. Although the Independent Green Party of Virginia did circulate a petition for president with those candidates’ names on it, Virginia law explicitly gives the petitioning group the right to substitute. The Independent Green Party of Virginia has promised to place the Constitution Party national ticket on the ballot, via substitution. Meanwhile, the Independent Green Party of Virginia has been enjoying the publicity.
Also, reports that the Independent Green Party of Virginia got 70,000 signatures on its presidential petition are also wrong. The party got 70,000 raw signatures for all its candidates put together. Virginia requires separate petitions for each candidate, so the 70,000 figure was arrived at by totaling the party’s presidential petition, its U.S. Senate petition, and its various petitions for U.S. House.
On August 19, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter received responses from all three sides in the Maine ballot access case. Souter is in charge of emergency appeals for the First Circuit while the Court is not in session. Maine is in the First Circuit. The case concerns whether Herb Hoffman should be on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate.
The state of Maine and Herb Hoffman are on the same side. Both submitted briefs arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court should put Hoffman on the ballot. The state chair of the Democratic Party, who is trying to keep Hoffman off the ballot, is the only party to the lawsuit against Hoffman’s ballot access. The state chair, John Knutson, argued in his brief that it would violate the sovereignty of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, if the U.S. Supreme Court were to side with Hoffman. Knutson also argues that it is reasonable to exclude a candidate from the ballot if there is doubt that his witnessing was done properly. To see the briefs, go to www.scotusblog.com. The Maine matter is near the top of that blog. The state of Maine says it needs a decision no later than August 29.
