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On December 20, California State Senator Dave Min (D-Irvine) said he will soon introduce a bill to enable the California Secretary of State to adjudicate whether presidential candidates are eligible, and if the Secretary of State determines the candidate is ineligible, to remove that person from any ballot.
Min hopes that his bill passes by a two-thirds vote in each house, which would enable it to take effect immediately, so as to affect the November 2024 ballot. Democrats do have a two-thirds majority in each house of the California legislature. Thanks to Eric Wong for this news.
On December 19, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat, asked the California Secretary of State to remove Donald Trump from the California Republican presidential primary ballot. See this story.
California is the only state that ever passed a law, requiring presidential candidates to reveal their tax returns or to be barred from ballots. That law was held unconstitutional in the State Supreme Court (unanimously), and was also invalidated by a U.S. District Court. The law had been aimed at Trump.
If you wanted to read a confusing story today, I’ve got you covered.
Between 10 and 20 Republican Party candidates for county level offices in Alabama may be removed from their ballots due to not filing a Statement of Economic Interests with the Alabama Ethics Commission within five days after originally qualifying for the ballot.
There is an assertion by some of these candidates that Democratic Party candidates for the same offices are not being held to the same rules.
No Labels held a press conference on December 18, 2023, and stated that it will be working toward or will have achieved ballot access in 27 states by the end of 2023.
No Labels also stated that 16 states will be held in abeyance for petitioning until a presidential candidate or presidential ticket is named due to lower petitioning requirements for candidate petitions, instead of party petitions, in those states.
The organization expects to have a presidential ticket on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, although I presume that if the US Supreme Court rules that Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible to assume the office of President of the United States, No Labels will stand down in its efforts to field a Presidential ticket.
Here is a story on the No Labels press conference.