A New Jersey state trial court will soon determine whether the term of the Republican Party Chair in Gloucester County is up this year or next. The state has statutes governing the matter, which appear to be in conflict with party bylaws.
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The North Carolina State Board of Elections says it will consider the validity of the No Labels Party petition at its August meeting. The date hasn’t been set yet. The County Boards have already determined that No Labels has 14,797 valid signatures. The requirement is 13,757. See this story.
In 2022, after the County Boards had determined that the Green Party had enough valid signatures, the State Board (which has a Democratic majority) still refused to put the Green Party on the ballot. The Green Party sued, and a U.S. District Court ordered the Board to certify the party.
The Green Party case is still open for a decision on the constitutionality of the State Board’s action. The State Board has been trying to get it declared moot. If the State Board treats the No Labels Party the way it treated the Green Party in 2022, that will prove the case is not moot.
On July 6, the New Jersey Libertarian Party filed this amicus curiae brief in Mazo v Way, 22-1033. This is the lawsuit that challenges New Jersey law that restricts the content of ballot labels for candidates running in primaries.
The amicus brief focuses on the part of the New Jersey law that says if the label is not approved by the state, the state will print “No Slogan” on the ballot underneath that candidate’s name, even though the candidate might very well prefer to have no words if the state won’t approve his or her preferred slogan.
On June 27, the California legislature passed SB 437. It requires qualified parties to notify the Secretary of State of the names of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees, no later than 75 days before the general election.
Two Democratic Assemblymembers, Lori Wilson and Rick Zbur, voted “no.”
It is odd that many states, including California under current law, have no deadline in their election laws for qualified parties to submit the names.
An editorial in the July 5, 2023 edition of The Wall Street Journal defends the No Labels party movement.
The editorial criticizes “the left” for its dumping on No Labels. But, it’s not just “the left.” I listen frequently to The Bulwark podcasts, which state that they are trying to appeal to “the Center Right, as well as the Center Left.” Regular host Charlie Sykes and guest commentator Mona Charen are frequently critical of the No Labels movement and seem confident that it is only going to help Donald Trump win the next Presidential election. I’m not so sure about that.
But what they fail to explain is: What is so new and different about New Labels? In 11 of the 12 presidential elections since 1976, there have been at least two non-R, non-D presidential tickets capable of winning the Electoral College (the exception: 1984, only David Bergland/Jim Lewis, Libertarian Party).