The Green Papers web page, the premier site for data about major party and minor party presidential delegate data, has posted the state-by-state vote for the Libertarian national convention votes for president and vice-president. See here.
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The Constitution Party of New Mexico has been told that its petition has enough valid signatures. Similarly, the Party for Socialism and Liberation has been told that its Arkansas presidential petition has enough valid signatures.
On May 27, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina, a Clinton appointee in the District of Columbia, dismissed Ralph Nader’s lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee for its actions taken against Nader voters and Nader in 2004. Nader had filed the case in 2007, and had hoped that the Court would allow a trial to show the elements of a conspiracy. The case is Nader v Democratic National Committee, 07-2136.
On May 27, Judge Robert H. Hobgood signed a 17-page opinion, upholding North Carolina’s ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties. Judge Hobgood is a Superior Court Judge in Wake County. Superior Court Judges in North Carolina do not have law clerks, so it is customary for judges to ask each side to write a proposed opinion. In this case, Judge Hobgood signed the opinion that had been written by the Attorney General’s office. The only reasons this opinion mentions for upholding the petition requirement are that any lesser restriction would result in a large ballot, which would cause election-administration problems.
Since this opinion was written by the Attorney General’s office, it naturally omitted a great deal of evidence that this fear is unfounded. The plaintiffs, the Libertarian and Green Parties, will appeal.
No lower state court has ever held that its state requires too many signatures to place a party, or a candidate, on the ballot, under the constitution (whether federal constitution or state constitution). The only state courts that have ever declared the number of signatures unconstitutional have been the highest state court in that state. These instances were in New York in 1912, Michigan in 1981, Alaska in 1982, and Maryland in 2003. In all four cases, the lower courts had upheld the challenged laws.
The opinion has no immediate impact on the Libertarian Party, since it completed this year’s petition anyway. But it will keep any other party from qualifying this year. The law requires 69,734 valid signatures this year, and probably 80,000 or so in 2010.
Here are Idaho presidential primary results from the Secretary of State’s page. Idaho Republican rules mean that Ron Paul will get 4 delegates. The Democratic primary is just a beauty contest, since Democratic delegates were chosen earlier by caucus.
The Libertarian and Constitution Parties are also entitled to their own primaries in Idaho, but neither party chose to participate. In any event, Idaho won’t print up a primary ballot for any party if that party has no contests for any office. Although both minor parties are nominating candidates, the single candidate who filed in each race is deemed to have won the primary.