Illinois State Board of Elections Says that Circulators Who Worked for a Republican or Democratic Candidate in Another State Can’t Circulate for an Independent in Illinois

Posted on by August 25, 2024
8

On August 23, a hearings officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections ruled that petitioners who circulate for a Democratic or Republican candidate in another state are not eligible to circulate an independent or minor party petition in Illinois that same year.  But, circulators who worked on an independent or minor party petition in another state can then work on an independent or minor party petition in Illinois that same year.

No other state tries to prevent a circulator from working because of that circulator’s activity in another state the same year.  Petitioning is First Amendment activity, and the ruling begs for a lawsuit to overturn it.  But because the hearings officer also determined that the petition at issue, the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. independent petition, still has enough valid signatures, there will be no  lawsuit this year.

The hearings officer ruled that Kennedy has 33,286 valid signatures, which is more than the required 25,000.  Many of Kennedy’s Illinois petitioners had worked for him in other states, and so their work was valid.  A smaller number of signatures which had been gathered by Kennedy’s Illinois petitioners in other states this year for various Democratic and Republican presidential primary petitions are not valid.

Here is the report of the hearings officer.

Here is the appendix to the report, which contains the conclusion that some type of out-of-state work doesn’t matter, but other types do matter.  The Appendix says on page 40 that the fact that Kennedy was registered as a Democrat in New York does not disqualify him from being an independent candidate in Illinois.  On pages 74-76, it says that the fact that he may have given a false address does not disqualify his petitions, because the address was not sworn to.  On page 78 it says the fact that Kennedy is a minor party nominee in certain states does not disqualify him from being an independent candidate in Illinois.

Nevada State Court Hearing on Challenge to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Petition

Posted on by August 25, 2024
6

On August 23, a Nevada state trial court held a hearing in Rockefeller v Aguilar, Carson City District Court 24OC-00107.  This is the case in which a Democratic Party activist is suing the Secretary of State to remove Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., from the ballot.

The Secretary of State had determined that the petition has enough valid signatures.  The lawsuit charges that Kennedy is ineligible because he was a registered Democrat, and also that he can’t be an independent candidate in Nevada because he is the nominee of some one-state minor parties elsewhere in the nation.  Both of these claims are entirely without merit.  No presidential candidate has ever been removed from a general election ballot on the grounds of how he or she was registered.  John Anderson was affiliated with the Republican Party all during 1980 and he qualified as an independent in all states, and no one even challenged him on that basis.  Lawsuits that did challenge Kanye West’s independent petitions in 2020 in Arizona and Idaho on the grounds that he was a registered Republican in Wyoming were both rejected.

At the hearing, the judge asked both sides if the case should be considered moot.  There is no decision yet.  Ironically, Nevada is one of the swing states, and on August 23 Kennedy said he wants to withdraw his name from the ballot in swing states.  Yet he can’t withdraw in Nevada because the deadline to withdraw was August 20.  So he will appear on the Nevada ballot unless the court rules that he isn’t eligible to be an independent candidate.

New York Conservative Party Nominates Donald Trump for President

Posted on by August 24, 2024
12

On August 17, the New York Conservative Party nominated Donald J. Trump for President.  The state convention was in Jericho, in Nassau County.  Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.

The Conservative Party was a ballot-qualified party starting in 1962, making it the oldest continuously-qualified minor party in any state.  It has always nominated whomever the Republican Party nominated for president, except in 1964, when the Republican Party refused to allow its presidential elector candidates to accept the nomination of the Conservative Party.  Therefore, in 1964 the Conservative Party had no presidential nominee on the ballot.

The Working Families Party nominated Kamala Harris on July 25, even before the Democratic Party had nominated her.  The Working Families Party has always nominated the Democratic Party presidential nominee.

Georgia Democrats Challenge Jill Stein’s Ballot Access in Georgia

Posted on by August 24, 2024
6

A Georgia Administrative Law judge will soon decide whether Jill Stein should be on the Georgia ballot or not.  Georgia law, passed just this year, says a “political body which has obtained ballot access in no fewer than 20 states or territories for the office of presidential elector” is automatically on the Georgia ballot for president only.

In Georgia, minor parties that are not ballot-qualified are still expected to file a list of their officers and bylaws, and then they are a “political body”, but except for the law mentioned above, they must petition for their nominees.

The original Georgia Green Party has the status of a political body.  It is called the Georgia Green Party.  But it is no longer affiliated with the national Green Party, because the national Green Party objects to the Georgia Green Party’s stance on gender care for teen-agers.  The Georgia Green Party wants to outlaw such care.

Greens in Georgia who support such care have formed the Unified Green Party.

Georgia Democrats say Jill Stein can’t be on the ballot under the new law because the political body, the Georgia Green Party, is not the same organization that put Jill Stein on the ballot in other states around the nation.