Evan McMullin is Listed First on Utah General Election Ballots, for the U.S. Senate Race

Posted on by November 1, 2022
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For the November 8, 2022 election, U.S. Senate, independent candidate Evan McMullin is listed first. Utah holds a random sample drawing of alphabet letters every election year. All the letters of the alphabet are placed in order, as determined by the drawing. In 2022, “M” placed closer to the top of the list than any of the other relevant letters (in the Senate race) of “L”, “H”, and “W”. The other candidates are Republican Mike Lee, Libertarian James Hansen, and Independent American Tommy Williams.

Here is the Grand County ballot.

Here is the Utah County ballot.

Arkansas Apparently Won’t Appeal U.S. District Court Decision That Struck Down the Minor Party Petition Requirement

Posted on by October 31, 2022
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As already noted, on September 30, a U.S. District Court in Arkansas struck down the 3% (of the last gubernatorial vote) petition requirement for new or previously unqualified parties. October 31 was the deadline for the state to appeal, yet nothing has been filed, so it appears the state will accept the decision.

It is theoretically possible for the state to file something before midnight, but it seems unlikely that such paperwork would be filed after the close of business.

Procedural Win in Indiana Ballot Access Case

Posted on by October 31, 2022
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On October 28, U.S. District Court Judge James R. Sweeney, a Trump appointee, issued an order in Indiana Green Party v Sullivan, s.d., 1:22cv-518. This is the case that challenges the Indiana ballot access laws for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. The order rejects the state’s request to dismiss the case without even holding a trial. The state said that because the Indiana petition (2% of the last vote cast for Secretary of State) was upheld in the Seventh Circuit in 1985 (when the 2% petition was only two years old), therefore the case should be dismissed. But the judge wrote that “it has been 37 years since Hall was decided. Both the law and the facts have changed…It is far too early for the Court to say that no relief is possible on the facts as alleged.”

New Mexico Libertarians Who Are in Alignment with National Libertarian Committee Begin to Organize

Posted on by October 30, 2022
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On October 29, a zoom meeting was held to organize a political party in New Mexico that is in alignment with the Libertarian National Committee. The existing ballot-qualified Libertarian Party in New Mexico and the national committee are estranged from each other.

Although the new party desires to qualify for the ballot, it cannot start to circulate a petition until it chooses a name. The new group is tentatively calling itself the Free Libertarian Party, but the group is aware that state law won’t permit that label. The law says, “No political party shall adopt any party name or party emblem which is the same as, similar to, or which conceivably can be confused with or mistaken for the party name or party emblem of any other qualified political party in New Mexico.”

The existing ballot-qualified Libertarian Party in New Mexico nominates by primary, so it is possible for members of both groups to engage in contested primary battles in the primary, should they desire to do so.