The New York Times of August 1 has this obituary of Michael A. Hardy, who died July 22 at the age of 69. Although the obituary emphasizes his law career, it also mentions that he was once the editor of the New Alliance Party’s weekly newspaper, the National Alliance. It also mentions that the party placed its presidential nominee, Lenora Fulani, on the ballot in all fifty states in 1988.
Ironically, during the entire calendar year 1988, the New York Times never mentioned Fulani or her campaign.
On August 9, two Iowa Republican Party officials challenged the ballot status of Marco Battaglia, the Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. House for the Third District. The Iowa Libertarian Party is ballot-qualified. Iowa qualified parties may nominate either by primary, or if no one won the primary, by party meeting. The objectors say the Libertarians held precinct caucuses and a state meeting, but didn’t hold a county meeting. See this story.
Chris Churchill, who has been a 3-times per week columnist at the Albany Times-Union since 2012, has this column about the Democratic Party’s efforts to keep Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., off the New York ballot. The Albany Times-Union is the daily newspaper for New York’s capital city, and is the location of the state court that is weighing the challenge.
The column may be behind a pay wall,, but it says, “The RFK Jr. lawsuit is really about disenfranchising voters…The Democratic-aligned group doesn’t really care where he lives. It just wants to rob New Yorkers of choice.” It also points out that according to the most recent poll for the presidential election in New York state, 7% of voters want to vote for Kennedy.
On July 30, the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign filed a federal lawsuit to stop the objections to his Illinois petition. Oakley v Illinois State Board of Elections, n.d., 1:24cv-06627. The objectors to the Kennedy petition did not bring the challenge to the Kennedy candidates for presidential elector. Instead they just filed against Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan.
The federal lawsuit says because the true candidates are the candidates for presidential elector, the objectors’ challenge is fatally flawed. It is too late for the objectors to file a new objection naming the candidates for elector. The case is before U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy C. Daniel, a Biden appointee. Thanks to Sam Cahnman for this news.
On August 9, the California Secretary of State released a new registration tally. See it here. This one is especially interesting because it shows the results of the registration drives that have been conducted over the last six months. When parties try to qualify for the California ballot, they do so by persuading 73,168 individuals to fill out a registration card, joining that party.
No Labels has 40,335 registrants, more than any other unqualified party. At the last tally, February 20, it had 42,039. It is not surprising that it declined, because on April 4, it announced that it would not run a presidential candidate, and stopped its paid registration drive.
The Common Sense Party has 20,132, down from the February tally when it had 22,029. It no longer has a paid registration drive either.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s We the People Party has 13,523. This is its first tally. Its registration drive had not begun yet when the last tally was done. The purpose of the We the People Party was to put Kennedy on the ballot, but that became unnecessary on April 29, when the American Independent Party nominated Kennedy.
The Forward Party has 287 registrants. This is its first tally also. It had been working with the Common Sense Party, but for some reason decided to do its own drive.
The Justice for All Party has 1,516 registrants. This is Cornel West’s party. He will not be on the ballot in California.
If all the voters in the No Labels, Common Sense, We the People, and Forward Parties, would register into the same party, it would have 74,277 registrants, enough to qualify.
As to the qualified parties and their percentages: Democratic 46.19%; Republican 24.73%; American Independent 3.83%; Libertarian 1.07%; Peace & Freedom .64; Green .47%.
The February 2024 percentages were: Democratic 46.59%; Republican 24.41%; American Independent 3.78%; Libertarian 1.09%; Peace & Freedom .63%; Green .46%.
