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.
Afroman, an Ohio rapper whose name was formerly Joseph Foreman, has said he intends to be an independent presidential candidate in 2024. See this story. Thanks to Mark Elworth for this news.
Ballot Access News
December 2022 – Volume 38, Number 7
| This issue was printed on white paper. |
Table of Contents
On Friday, December 23, Congress passed S4573, the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022. The Senate had passed it on December 22 by a vote of 68-29, and the House passed it the next day by 225-201.
This is the first federal election law bill to pass since 2002, when the Help America Vote Act was passed, outlawing punchcard ballots and mechanical voting machines. The 2022 bill makes it virtually impossible for state legislatures to ever take away the right to vote from ordinary voters, in presidential elections. The January 1, 2023 print edition of Ballot Access News will have more details.
A U.S. District Court in Delaware will hold a trial April 13-14 in Adams v Carney, 1:20cv-1680. This is the case over the Delaware law that prohibits anyone except members of the two largest parties from being appointed to most judicial posts.
The state recently tried to get the case dismissed on standing grounds, but the judge rejected that attempt by the state to end the case.
