Fourteen of the Twenty Republican House Members Who Won’t Vote for Kevin McCarthy are from States That Let Independents Vote in Republican Primaries

Posted on by January 5, 2023
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Twenty U.S. House Republicans have been voting against Kevin McCarthy for Speaker. This blog post takes no position on the wisdom of these Representatives’ decision not to vote for their party’s nominee for Speaker. But it seems obvious that the twenty are not “centrists”, or “moderates”.

Open primaries, and proponents of eliminating party nominees in public elections, constantly claim that letting independent voters vote in primaries produce more moderate office-holders. Yet among the twenty who won’t vote for McCarthy, fourteen of them are from states in which independent voters can vote in Republican primaries.

Here is the list of the twenty. The six who are from closed primary states are one from Oklahoma, three from Florida, one from Pennsylvania, and one from Maryland.

Brief Filed in Lawsuit Over New York’s May Petition Deadline for Independent Candidates

Posted on by January 5, 2023
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On January 4, Buffalo, New York Mayor Byron Brown filed this brief in Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, w.d., 1:21cv-982. This is the lawsuit against the May petition deadline for New York independent candidates, a deadline created in 2019. Before 2019 the deadline had always been in August, September or October of election years.

The Mayor filed an independent petition in 2021, the year he was running for re-election. Although his petition had enough valid signatures, it was rejected because it had been filed after the deadline. The Mayor won injunctive relief against the deadline in U.S. District Court in 2019, but then the Second Circuit reversed, without comment. So he did not get on the November 2021 ballot and had to spend over $1,000,000 on a write-in campaign. He did get re-elected on write-ins.

Americans Coming Together Nominee Polls Highest Percentage for a West Virginia Minor Party Legislative Candidate in At Least 95 Years

Posted on by January 4, 2023
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In November 2022, the Americans Coming Together Party ran three legislative candidates in West Virginia. The party is a centrist party. One of its nominees, S. Marshall Wilson, polled 39.7% of the vote in a two-person race, against a Republican opponent. That is the highest percentage for a minor party legislative candidate in West Virginia in at least 95 years.

Alabama Libertarian Party Receives a Free List of the Statewide Registered Voter List

Posted on by January 4, 2023
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In mid-December 2022, the Alabama Secretary of State gave a free list of the registered voters to the Libertarian Party, because it had qualified for statewide ballot access in the 2022 election. Alabama charges more for the list of registered voters than any other state ($37,000) but gives a free list to qualified parties.

Although the Libertarian Party did not poll 20% for any statewide race last year, it did poll over 20% for countywide partisan offices in Madison, Macon, and Jackson Counties, so it is on the ballot for 2024 for all county partisan offices in those three counties.

The party is seeking sponsors for a bill to lower the 20% vote test to something lower.