Filing for the Washington state August primary closes at the end of the day, Friday, June 6. As of 11:00 am, Pacific time, few minor party candidates had filed. The only minor party candidates for the 8 statewide partisan offices are three Constitution Party members, and one from the Party of Commons.
For US House, the only minor party candidates so far are one Green, one Libertarian, and one Constitution Party member.
For state legislature, there are so far two Greens, one Progressive, one Progressive Democrat, one from America’s Third Party, and one from the No Gas Taxes Party.
A substantial number of Republicans are filing as preferring the “GOP Party” or just the “R Party”, and a few Democrats are filing as preferring the “D Party”.
AND IN OHIO:
Board of elections rejects three appeals
Published:Friday, June 6, 2008
By David Skolnick
Two plan to appeal the board’s decisions.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Board of Elections rejected appeals
by three would-be independent candidates to get on the November
ballot.
Howard Faison of Youngstown, who wants to run for county sheriff,
and Dennis S. Spisak of Struthers, seeking to be a candidate for the
Ohio House 60th District seat, said they will file appeals with the
Ohio Supreme Court and the 7th District Court of Appeals,
respectively, in attempts to overturn the board’s decisions.
John Martynyszyn of Youngstown, who also wanted to run for sheriff,
said he won’t appeal the board’s decision.
On Thursday, the board upheld its May 6 decisions to disqualify the
three.
The board decided the three were ineligible for different reasons.
Faison, a sheriff’s department captain who retired on disability in
2003, wasn’t eligible because he doesn’t have state peace officer
training required of sheriff candidates, the board determined.
Faison cited an Ohio law that states those who retire on disability
are “considered on [a] leave of absence from employment during the
first five years” following the retirement.
But state law requires sheriff candidates to be “performing duties
related to the enforcement of statutes, ordinances or codes” during
the past three or four years, depending on job classification, to be
eligible for the ballot, according to a legal opinion provided to
the elections board by the county prosecutor’s office.
“We don’t like to throw people off the ballot,” said board member
Michael Morley. “We tend to err on the side of the candidate, but
the law says you have to be performing duties. Whether the law
stinks is not our decision. Our hands are tied.”
If Faison remains disqualified, Sheriff Randall Wellington, a
Youngstown Democrat, would be unopposed on the November ballot.
Martynyszyn, an ex-corporal at the sheriff’s office, is ineligible
because he voted in the Democratic primary on March 4, the day after
he filed petitions as an independent candidate.
The Ohio secretary of state’s office issued an opinion last year
disqualifying candidates who vote in party primary elections after
filing as independents.
Spisak failed to write the office he’s seeking on six of his
nominating petitions, something required under state law, board
members said.
Without those petitions, Spisak had 263 valid signatures when he
needed 323 to be a candidate. There were 60 valid signatures on the
six petitions in question.
Spisak said anyone signing his petitions knew he was running for the
Ohio House 60th District seat. The board didn’t agree and refused to
reinstate Spisak during a discussion that became heated.
skolnick@vindy. com
__._,_.___
There are also a substantial number of candidates claiming to prefer the “Democrat Party.” Most Democrats like to claim that only Republicans use this term and that they do so deliberately in order to emphasize the “rat” syllable.
I guess “G.O.P. Party” stands for “Grand Old Party Party.” That’s up there with “HIV virus.”
And none of the minors or indies filed, as of 3pm anyway, are positioned to make it to November.