On December 5, the Ohio House Government Oversight Committee heard HB 210, to change Ohio from an open primary state to a closed primary state. The only two witnesses in favor were the two sponsors, Representatives Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) and Gary Click (R-Vickery).
According to this news story, the bills did not get a very favorable review from committee members.
On December 22, Democratic presidential candidate Cenk Uygur, who was born in Turkey but who has lived in the United States since the age of eight, filed a federal lawsuit to get on the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary. Uygur v South Carolina and McMaster, 3:23cv-6879. He is suing the Elections Commission and also the South Carolina Democratic Party, which cashed his filing fee for $20,000 but then refused to accept him as a candidate.
He argues that the 14th amendment implicitly repealed the part of Section Two that says a candidate must be a natural-born citizen in order to hold the office of President or Vice-President. He also argues that regardless of that, he should be placed on the ballot even if he doesn’t meet the constitutional qualifications. He is on the ballot in four other states, and he was permitted to take out petition blanks in Rhode Island.
Here is his Complaint.
Bob Walters, chair of the American Independent Party of California, wanted to list Donald Trump on his party’s presidential ballot this year, but the Secretary of State denied that request.
The only name that will appear on the party’s presidential primary ballot, James Bradley, considers himself a stand-in for Trump.
It is very likely that the party will nominate Donald Trump for president for the November ballot. It also nominated him in the 2016 general election ballot, and Trump appeared as the nominee of both the Republican and American Independent Parties in November 2016.
California does not apply its sore loser law to presidential primaries. If the Republican presidential nominee in 2024 is someone other than Donald Trump, and if Trump wants the AIP nomination in November 2024, he is very likely to receive it.
On December 29, a North Carolina Republican voter filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court, to remove former President Donald Trump from the Republican presidential primary ballot.
The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear Binkley for President 2024 v Simon, A23-1900, on January 11, 2024, at 10 a.m. The case was filed by Ryan Binkley on December 13, 2023. It challenges the Minnesota law that gives parties sole discretion over who can get on the ballot in that party’s presidential primary.
The Republican Party of Minnesota rules for inclusion on its presidential primary ballot are: (1) qualified to appear in the Republican National Committee’s debates; or (2) is a former President, Governor, member of Congress, or Mayor of a City with 250,000 Population.
Binkley has qualified for the Republican presidential primary or caucus in every state except Minnesota. He came close to qualifying for the RNC debates. He did meet the fund-raising threshold but he didn’t poll at least 1% in several polls.
His lawsuit charges that the state can’t give power of the publicly-funded presidential primary to a political party. The Minnesota law has been upheld in federal court, but this case is based on the State Constitution.
Here is the Ryan Binkley campaign website.
