This year’s Missouri marijuana legalization initiative only qualified for the ballot because proponents found enough errors in the petition-checking process that had been conducted by county election officials. Proponents reviewed the work of the counties, and found several thousand signatures that should not have been disqualified. The proponents then presented this evidence to the Secretary of State, who agreed with the proponents. See this story. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.
On August 22, the Alaska legislature sent SB 161 to Governor Mike Dunleavy. This is the bill to ease the definition of a qualified party, from one that has registration equal to 3% of the last turnout, to exactly 5,000 registrants. The Governor must act on the bill by September 14.
On August 22, the Arizona Secretary of State posted the official election returns for the August 2, 2022 primary. See them here.
Under legislation passed in 2015, write-in candidates in party primaries need a very large number of write-ins, in order to qualify for the general election ballot. None of the Libertarian candidates for federal or state office polled enough write-ins, which is no surprise, because no minor party has been able to meet those requirements in any of the four primaries held since the new law passed.
For the statewide offices, the Libertarian write-in totals are: Governor Barry Hess 550, Attorney General Michael Kielsky 571, Superintendent of Public Instruction Sheila Reid-Shaver 557, Corporation Commissioner Nathan Gage Madden 216. All of them needed 3,715 write-ins. Of course, only registered Libertarians could cast a write-in vote in the Libertarian primary.
If a candidate is on the primary ballot, there is no minimum number of votes needed. Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Marc Victor was on the Libertarian primary ballot, so he only needed one vote. In the primary he received 3,065 votes.
The law is more lenient for parties that are on the ballot as a result of a petition that was completed in either of the last two elections. For these “new” parties, only one write-in vote is needed in that party’s primary. But the Libertarian Party is not a “new” party because it has been on the ballot without interruption since 1996.
On August 22, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections voted on whether Ohio Representative Shayla Davis can be on the November ballot as an independent candidate for State House. The Board tied, 2-2, which means that the challenge to her candidacy now goes to the Secretary of State, Frank LaRose. Davis has enough valid signatures. He ballot position is challenged on the grounds that she is too closely tied to the Democratic Party. See this story.
On August 22, the Florida State Court of Appeals issued an opinion putting Rebekah Jones on the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. House, First District. The lower court had ruled against her. Jones v Schiller, 1D22-2465. Here is the opinion, which concerns the Florida law barring candidates from primaries if they have not been registered members of the party for a full year.
The Secretary of State had put Jones on the primary ballot, but then her opponent had challenged that decision, and submitted documents showing that Jones was a registered independent between June and August 2021 when Jones lived in Maryland. Thus the trial court had removed Jones. But the Appeals Court says that the Florida prior affiliation law doesn’t permit exterior evidence. The State Court of Appeals says that if the candidate signs the declaration of candidacy about prior affiliation, and the Secretary of State has no awareness that the declaration is wrong, then the declaration must stand.
This decision might have some helpfulness to the ongoing legal battle to put the People’s Party nominee for Pasco County Commission on the ballot. That case is pending in the Eleventh Circuit. UPDATE: here is a news story.
