Hawaii Supreme Court Upholds State’s Primary System

Posted on by January 2, 2023
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On December 23, the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld the state’s primary voting system. Malish v Nago, SCEC-22-682.

The Hawaii Constitution says in primary elections, no voter is asked to declare a party or declare independent status. It says each primary voter receives the primary ballots of all qualified parties, and if there are any independent candidates, also the primary ballot that only lists independents. The primary voter chooses one type of ballot and casts it.

The plaintiffs argued that the very act of the voter choosing one type of primary ballot is intrinsically forcing that voter to declare party memberhip, but the Court does not discuss this idea and merely says the plaintiffs have not stated a claim for which relief can be granted.

New York Times Article on 1855 Speaker’s Race Omits the Partisan Background

Posted on by December 31, 2022
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The New York Times has this article about the 1855 race for Speaker of the U.S. House. In the print edition it is titled “How Once-in-a-Century Chaos Could Hit the Vote for Speaker.” It describes how, in 1855-1856, the race for Speaker took two months to resolve.

But the article omits the reason. After the 1854 election, no party was even close to having a majority in the U.S. House. The new Republican Party had the most seats; Democrats were second; and the American “Know-Nothing” Party was third. When the house finally chose a speaker, Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, the Speaker was a member of the third biggest party, the Know-Nothings. It was actually easier for the House to choose someone from that party, because Democrats couldn’t abide having a Republican speaker, and vice versa.

The New York Times article has not one word about the partisan split back then.

Libertarian National Chair Gives Birth to a Healthy Baby Boy

Posted on by December 30, 2022
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On December 3, Angela McArdle, national chair of the Libertarian Party, gave birth to a healthy baby boy. As far as is known, this is the first time the national chair of any nationally-organized party has given birth. Major parties and minor parties alike have always had male chief executives until very recent decades. This is true, even for parties such as the Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party who were among the first to nominate female presidential candidates.

December 2022 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by December 27, 2022
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Ballot Access News
December 2022 – Volume 38, Number 7

This issue was printed on white paper.

Table of Contents

  1. 2022 ELECTION RETURNS SUGGEST ELECTORAL COLLEGE COULD DAMAGE REPUBLICANS IN 2024
  2. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION PASSES IN TWO CITIES
  3. INDIANA PROCEDURAL BALLOT ACCESS WIN
  4. TOP-FIVE TENTATIVELY PASSES IN NEVADA
  5. LAWSUIT NEWS
  6. OSCE NOTES GEORGIA BALLOT ACCESS
  7. 2022 VOTE FOR OFFICE AT TOP OF BALLOT
  8. VOTER REGISTRATION TOTALS
  9. 2024 PRESIDENTIAL PETITIONING
  10. MINOR PARTY PARTISAN WINS
  11. ONLY THIRTEEN STATES LACK A BALLOT-QUALIFIED THIRD PARTY
  12. NO LABELS PARTY QUALIFIES IN FLORIDA
  13. FEC FINALLY PUBLISHES 2020 ELECTION RETURNS BOOK
  14. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL