On August 9, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said he will ask the Attorney General whether an unqualified party can circulate a presidential candidate petition listing one particular presidential candidate, and then have that candidate withdraw (should he or she not be nominated) and have the actual national convention nominee replace him or her.

The New Hampshire Libertarian Party is currently circulating a presidential candidate petition, listing George Phillies for president. Phillies is an active and vigorous campaigner for that nomination, but no one knows who the actual Libertarian Party presidential nominee will be. The NHLP has started circulating this petition because (even though only 3,000 signatures are needed) the petitioning process in New Hampshire is very ardurous. The party failed to get its needed 3,000 signatures for Michael Badnarik in 2004, and failed to get its needed 3,000 signatures for Richard Kahn for Governor in 2006. New Hampshire petitions must be turned in to each town clerk. Later, after the town clerks have checked them, the group must physically collect them and transport them to the Secretary of State’s office. Sometimes it is difficult to get the town clerks to do this work. The process takes far longer than it does in most states.

If the Attorney General rules that a presidential candidate listed on a petition may withdraw, he will be agreeing with similar rulings in many other states. If he refuses to allow it, it is possible the NHLP will bring a lawsuit.

The Libertarian Party national convention is in late May 2008 in Denver, Colorado.

The September 1, 2007 paper version of Ballot Access News will carry a story about the requirements for an independent candidate for U.S. House to get on the 2008 ballot. The requirements for each of the 435 districts have been calculated. The most severe requirement is in North Carolina’s 4th district, where an independent will need approximately 20,131 valid signatures. The North Carolina formula is 4% of the number of registered voters as of January 2008, so the precise requirement cannot be known now. The 20,131 figure is obtained by using the last known registration tally, and it won’t change much.

A lawsuit is being planned by an independent candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina. No independent candidate for U.S. House has ever qualified to appear on a government-printed ballot in North Carolina. North Carolina has used government-printed ballots since 1901.

Georgia’s statutory requirement is even worse. Georgia’s petition requirement is 5% of the number of registered voters. But, oddly, no district in Georgia in 2008 will require more than 20,070 signatures. The 5% independent petition for U.S. House was last used in Georgia in 1964, back when there were far fewer registered voters, and the petitions weren’t due until October of the election year, and they weren’t checked for validity.

The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, starting in 1920, has published a booklet containing the vote for each candidate for Congress. If the election is also a presidential election year, the booklet includes presidential returns also.

The Clerk has finally published the 2006 booklet. It is on the web here. The Clerk usually makes some errors. This time, the Clerk’s book omits the U.S. Senate vote for the Mountain Party (8,474 votes for Jesse Johnson).

UPDATE: thanks to the commentors below, who have found additional errors. Anyone who wishes to communicate directly with the person responsible for the book may do so, by telephoning 202-225-7000 and asking to speak to Candi.