On November 29, the Georgia legislature convened in a special session, for the purpose of redrawing the U.S. House and legislative district boundaries. See this story.
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Background: In the November 2020 General Election, two Libertarian Party countywide candidates in McHenry County, Illinois were in two-way races and received more than 5% of the vote for County Auditor and County Coroner.
A number of members of the Libertarian Party of Illinois thought that that gave the Libertarian Party Established Party status in McHenry County for four years, as that was the length of the term for both those offices. Established Party status is important because it allows a party’s candidates to get on the ballot for Primary elections, which have much lower signature requirements than getting on the ballot for General Elections as an Independent or as a candidate of a Non-Established Party.
In 2022, there was another General Election for other McHenry County countywide offices. In that election, no Libertarian Party candidate received 5% of the vote for any of those offices.
Thinking that the Libertarian Party still had Established Party status, the LP County Chair learned through a discussion with the McHenry County Clerk that the Clerk thought that the LP was no longer an Established Party. Knowing that there was a difference of opinion, the McHenry County Clerk sued the Libertarian Party of Illinois and me, as its Chair, to bring this matter before the Court to decide whose reading of the law of Illinois was correct.
McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Costello ruled on November 21, 2023, that the law favored the interpretation of the McHenry County Clerk.
According to this story, 55 of the Wisconsin Assembly districts, and 21 of the State Senate districts, are not contiguous. They either have holes inside them that consist of territory that doesn’t belong to that district, or they have disconnected areas that are part of the district. Thanks to Ken Bush for the link.
On November 27, the faction of the Michigan Libertarian Party that is not recognized by the Libertarian National Committee filed this brief in LNC v Saliba, 23-1856. The brief argues that the Lanham Act, the federal law concerning trademarks, cannot be applied to settle factional fights within a political party.
The Hawaii Elections Office website has a section that lists groups that have asked for the petition to create a new party. There are eight groups on the list: 1787, Aloha Aina, Free Will, Green, New Republican, Party for Socialism & Liberation, Royal Hawaiian Kingdom, and Solidarity.
There is no means to tell from the website which of these groups are actively petitioning. Parties already on the ballot are Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and No Labels.
If you use the link, scroll down toward the bottom. The list also includes the website for each group.