Back on February 1, a U.S. District Court in Oregon had ruled that signers of initiative or referendum petitions do not have a due process right to have their signatures counted. Plaintiffs have filed an appeal with the 9th circuit. The case is Lemons v Bradbury, 08-35209.

On March 24, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, 07-953. This is the case brought by people who wanted to make and advertise a film that would be shown in theaters and would try to make a profit. Yet the subject of the film would be to attack Hillary Clinton. The group wanted to be free of campaign finance reporting requirements.

Technically, the Court ruled that it doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear this case, because of procedural problems. This is slightly different than merely choosing not to hear the case.

The nation’s first winning challenge to open primaries (as opposed to blanket primaries and top-two primaries) is now over. The case Miller v Brown, from Virginia, has ended. This is the case in which the Republican Party of Virginia sued in 2005, alleging that it has a constitutional right to exclude non-members from its primaries. Both the US District Court, and the 4th Circuit, gave partial relief. The period for either side to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court has ended, and neither side sought U.S. Supreme Court intervention.

So, the decision stands. The Republican Party bylaw can be implemented in cases in which the party is being forced to hold a primary. But it may not be implemented in situations in which the party is free to decide whether to use a primary or a convention or caucus. The Bylaw says any subunit of the party may require that people who voted in the Democratic primary in the last five years cannot vote in a Republican primary unless they sign a pledge that they are loyal Republicans.

The only other lawsuit pending against open primaries is the Mississippi Democratic case, which is pending in the 5th circuit.

In January, the Tennessee Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties filed a federal lawsuit against the law on how new parties get on the ballot. The law is so strict and so confusing, it hasn’t been used since 1968. A procedural hearing was held in this lawsuit on March 19, just to set a briefing schedule. The judge assigned to the case will expedite the case, which is called Libertarian Party of Tennessee v Thompson, 3:08cv-63.

The Personal Choice Party, which has existed in Utah ever since 2004, tried but failed to re-qualify for the Utah ballot this year. The party had polled enough votes in 2004 so that it was on automatically in 2006, but it did not poll enough votes in 2006 to be on automatically in 2008.

The party needed 2,000 valid signatures, but submitted only approximately 1,800.

Utah lists the qualified parties on its state income tax forms. In 2005, the first year the Personal Choice Party was listed on those forms, it received $17,200, or 9% of all the donations given to all political parties that year. In 2006 it received $6,668 and 2007 it received $6,042. These lesser amounts were still more than twice as much as any other minor party received. However, the Personal Choice Party never received these donations. It had no bank account and no treasurer, so the money reverted to the state. The Personal Choice Party was also unusual in having Bylaws that could not be changed, and a policy of never having party conventions. The party’s logo on the ballot was the well-known “smiley face” button.

Filing has closed for the Utah primaries. The Constitution Party has 38 candidates for the State House, although two of them are running against each other in one district. Utah has 75 State House districts.

It is unusual for any minor party to run candidates in even half of any state’s legislative districts.

The Constitution Party also has candidates in over half the State Senate districts (8 candidates, in the 15 districts that are up this year).

The Libertarian Party has 8 candidates for the Utah State House.

In the U.S. House races, the Constitution Party has candidates in all three districts, and the Libertarian Party in two districts. Thanks to Frank Fluckiger for this news.

Vermont Progressive Party leader Anthony Pollina formally announced his gubernatorial candidacy on March 13. Pollina is very well known in Vermont and conceivably may be elected.

Pollina founded Rural Vermont in 1985, to work for a more favorable tax structure for farmers. In 1986 he successfully persuaded the legislature to label dairy products which used bovine growth hormone. In 1991 he became Policy Advisor to Independent Congressman Bernie Sanders. In 1996 he became Director of Vermont Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).

Although the Progressive Party elected candidates to the state legislature in the 1990’s, it had never run any statewide nominees until 2000, because it didn’t want it to be forced to nominate by primary (which would happen, once it polled 5% in any statewide race). However, the party changed its policy in 2000, and ran Pollina for Governor. He polled 9.59%. Despite that large share of the vote, Democratic nominee Howard Dean was re-elected.

In 2002 Pollina was the party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor. This time he polled 24.76%. Not surprisingly, he “spoiled” the chances of the Democratic nominee, and the Republican nominee was elected with only 41.2% of the vote. This result increased interest in Instant-Runoff Voting in Vermont.

On March 17, the Burlington Free Press carried a letter to the editor from Philip Hoff, who had been elected Governor in 1962. The letter says, “For a long time I have felt that the Democratic and Progressive Parties should work together for the common good. In the absense of a viable Democratic candidate, it seems to me that the candidacy of Anthony Pollina offers such an opportunity.” Hoff, 83, is well-known in Vermont; he was the first Democratic Governor since 1854.

It is possible that Pollina will win the Democratic primary in September, with write-in votes (he cannot have his name printed on the Democratic primary ballot, since he will be running in the Progressive primary). If he wins the Democratic primary with write-in votes, he would then be free to withdraw as the Democratic nominee. That would leave the Democratic Party without a gubernatorial candidate. Or he could keep the Democratic nomination, and would then be listed on the November ballot as “Progressive, Democratic”. Some Progressive Party state legislators accept Democratic nominations; others do not. The party has six state legislators currently.

If Pollina is elected as a Progressive, he will be the first non-major party candidate to win a governorship since 1998, when the Reform Party elected Jesse Ventura Governor of Minnesota. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for news about the Hoff letter.

The Alaskan Independence Party has appeared on the ballot in Alaska in all state elections, starting in 1970. In its early years, it never got involved in presidential elections. However, in 2004, for the first time, it nominated a presidential candidate. That candidate was Michael Peroutka, who was also the Constitution Party presidential candidate.

The Alaskan Independence Party expects to nominate for president again in 2008. According to the state chair, Lynette Clark, the party will either choose the nominee of the Constitution Party (who will not be chosen until April), or it will choose Frank McEnulty.

Frank McEnulty and Jim Clymer both spoke at the AIP state convention, held March 14-16. Clymer is the national chair of the Constitution Party.

McEnulty has been running for president since early 2007. He is 51 and lives in Long Beach, California. He started as an independent candidate. Then he won the presidential nomination of the New American Independent Party, a party that is not yet on the ballot in any state. The party chose McEnulty in a web based election conducted February 6-29. The results were announced on March 12. McEnulty had also run in the Arizona Republican presidential primary earlier this year, and had polled 333 votes. His web page is www.frankforpresident.org.

Filing closed for the Idaho primaries on March 21. The state has 4 qualified parties: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution.

The Republican presidential primary will list Ron Paul and John McCain. The Democratic presidential primary will list Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Keith Russell Judd of Beaumont, Texas. Clinton and Obama were listed automatically because they are discussed in the news media. Judd is not discussed in the media, so he got on by paying a filing fee of $1,000.

For non-presidential office, the Libertarian Party has a candidate for U.S. Senate, and four state legislative candidates. The Constitution Party has two state legislative candidates. The Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate, Kent Marmon, had been a Caldwell City Council member in the 1980’s. Thanks to Politics1 for that information.

Filing closed for the Montana primaries (both presidential and for other office) on March 20. Montana has four ballot-qualified parties: Republican, Democratic, Constitution, and Libertarian.

In the Republican presidential primary, John McCain and Ron Paul are the only candidates. In the Democratic primary, unsurprisingly, the two listed candidates are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Neither the Libertarian nor the Constitution Parties chose to have presidential primaries.

In the primaries for other office, the Constitution Party has nine legislative candidates, and a candidate for Secretary of State. The Libertarian Party has candidates for U.S. House, Governor, and two legislative candidates.

The Constitution Party currently holds a state house seat, but its legislator, Rick Jore, cannot run for re-election because of term limits. The Constitution Party has no candidate in that district (the 12th district). However, Ronald Marquardt, who had run as the Constitution Party nominee for Clerk of the State Supreme Court in 2006, is running in the Republican primary for the 12th House district. Two other Republicans are also running for the Jore seat.

The Green Party petition for party status failed.

In 2007 the Montana legislature moved the non-presidential independent candidate deadline from June to March. No independent candidates for statewide office, nor for State Senate qualified by the new March deadline, but two independents for State House qualified.

It is likely that an independent candidate will soon file a lawsuit against the new March petition deadline for non-presidential independents.