On September 22, the Arizona Secretary of State wrote a letter to leaders of No Labels Party, which is a ballot-qualified party with its own primary in Arizona. The letter says that the Secretary of State will allow candidates to file for office in the party’s primary. Already Tyson Draper has filed preliminary paperwork to run in the No Labels primary for U.S. Senate, and Richard Grayson has done so for Corporation Commissioiner.
No Labels does not want any candidates for office other than presidential electors. However, Arizona is in the Ninth Circuit, and the Ninth Circuit ruled in 2008 that a ballot-qualified party with its own primary can’t disallow anyone registered in that party from filing in that party’s primary, regardless of the wishes of the party. In Alaskan Independence Party v State, 545 F.3d 1173, the Alaskan Independence Party wanted to block Daniel DeNardo from running for U.S. Senate. The party said that DeNardo did not support the party, and furthermore insisted on putting nonsense claims in the state Voters Handbook (which allows candidates to submit a statement; the booklet is then sent to all registered voters). One of DeNardo’s claims was that the world’s largest cocaine ring was being run out of the Anchorage Law Library. But the party lost the case.
The Ninth Circuit ruling conflicts with several rulings from the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit has ruled that parties can block candidates from their primaries. Here is an article about the Arizona ruling. It will be interesting to see if No Labels brings a lawsuit. Thanks to Richard Grayson for the link.
