Venezuela will hold a presidential election later in 2024. On January 26, the nation’s highest court upheld a ban on ballot acces for Maria Corina Machado, the nominee of the biggest opposition party. See this story.
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On January 26, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was on the Smerconish show. He said he is mulling over whether to seek the Libertarian presidential nomination. See this story.
On January 26, the Colorado voters who challenged his ballot position submitted their brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. See it here. The opening argument is on the subject of whether Trump’s behavior qualifies as insurrection, and of course the brief argues that the answer is “yes.”
On January 26, the California Secretary of State released a new registration tally, as of January 5. No Labels has 36,769 registrants in that tally. It had 25,141 at the previous tally, the October 3, 2023 tally.
It needs approximately 75,000. The exact number can’t be known now, but the formula is .33% of the total state registraton when the party qualifies. The deadline is in July 2024.
Because No Labels gained 11,628 during October, November, and December, it is safe to assume that its current registration is probably close to 40,000, accounting for the new registrations it has probably obtained since January 5. In that event, it is halfway toward becoming a qualified party. See the new Report of Registration here.
On January 25, the Kansas House Elections Committee held a hearing on HB 2516, the bill to increase the independent petition requirement for statewide office from 5,000 signatures to 25,000. This newspaper story describes the testimonty. The bill faced opposition. The committee will vote on the bill next week.
If the bill were to pass, Kansas would require a higher percentage for presidential candidates running outside the two major parties than any other state. Currently Wyoming and the District of Columbia have the highest percentages, when the number of signatures for 2024 (using the easiest method) is divided by that jurisdiction’s most recent presidential vote.