Major newspapers, magazines, and television stations in Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, and Poland, have recently run feature stories about Frank Moore and his campaign for president of the U.S. Moore is an independent candidate who lives in Berkeley, California, and who is attempting to file as a declared write-in presidential candidate in the 35 states that will count write-ins for candidates who file a declaration of write-in candidacy.

Other presidential candidates have filed for write-in status in multiple states in recent past elections, and they have typically not received publicity. Moore is different, because he (1) is already somewhat well-known as a poet, painter and performance artist; and (2) has had cerebral palsy his entire life, so severe that he cannot talk or walk. He communicates by using a laser fastened to a device that he wears on his head. He aims the laser at a chart that shows all the letters of the alphabet, plus the most commonly spoken English words. His wife then verbalizes his message, for the benefit of any audience or any individual who is having a conversation with Moore. See this article.

Moore’s presidential campaign is not just to garner publicity for himself; he has a well-developed policy platform.

On April 16, the Washington Secretary of State’s office announced the details of how ballots will look in this year’s “top-two” primary and general elections. Under each candidate’s name will appear “Prefers (example) Party”. The candidate is free to choose any party name if it is 16 letters or fewer, and is not obscene. The 16-letter limit means that no one can choose “Socialist Workers” or “Democratic Republican”. The Secretary of State says the candidate must figure out an abbreviation if the party of “preference” is longer than 16 letters (a blank space between two words counts, just as though it were a separate letter) . Since Socialist Workers Party candidates have regularly appeared on the ballot with the full party name in many Washington state elections ever since 1948, it seems somewhat likely that the party could win a lawsuit over the 16-character limit. The limit wouldn’t be so strict, except that space is needed for the word “prefers”.

Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news. Here is a news story about the regulations.

On April 14, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Schaefer v Lamone, no. 07-1143. The case challenged Maryland’s law that uses alphabetical order of candidates’ names, to determine the order of candidates on primary ballots. The plaintiff had argued in favor of either rotation of names, or a random procedure for deciding the order of names on the ballot.