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.

The Independent Green Party of Virginia (an affiliate of the Independent Party of America) has gathered 70,000 signatures for the ticket of Michael Bloomberg and Ron Paul for president and vice-president. This is 7 times the number needed to qualify.

UPDATE: Bloomberg-Paul will not be on the Virginia ballot; see the post of August 20.

This year, the Socialist Party used an almost-forgotten method for getting its presidential candidate on the Iowa ballot. Iowa gives statewide minor party and independent candidates a choice of either submitting 1,500 signatures, or attracting 250 voters to a meeting. The latter method seems difficult, and as far as is known, no one had used it since 1968, when it only required 50 attendees.

However, recently the Secretary of State ruled that the 250-person meeting requirement may be satisfied by holding a meeting at an outdoor location. The Socialist Party set up its meeting at an outdoor spot on the campus of the University of Iowa. That spot had lots of pedestrian traffic. Persons walking by were asked to sign, and that person was considered an attendee. Washington state has a similar relaxed attitude toward what constitutes a “meeting.” By contrast, Oregon has a very rigid idea about such meetings. Oregon has a 1,000-person attendence alternative for statewide independent candidates, but all 1,000 voters must be in a room simultaneously, or the meeting is invalid.