The Washington state Libertarian Party’s 63-page brief in the 9th circuit in Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange was filed on June 21. The brief was one day late, but nevertheless has been accepted by the court.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Go Washington LP and shred that top-two law!
Is the California LP taking similar measures against their top-two law?
There is no lawsuit against the essence of California’ top-two law. There is just the lawsuit against two particular obnoxious aspects of it (write-ins can’t be counted in November even though there is write-in space; and some candidates get party labels and others don’t).
The reason there is no big lawsuit in California against the essence is because we already have the lawsuit in Washington state which will really decide the issue. Both California and Washington are in the 9th circuit so as one goes, generally, so goes the other.
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Thanks for the information, Richard! Hopefully our LP comrades will win their case.
Love the “apart from” comments on page 40. Powerful analogy! Hope it gets through enough skulls.
How much FREE advertising for ANY minor party with the party labels on the PUBLIC ballots, in voter guides, in the media, etc. ???
#8, there are no Washington state voter guides in the primary, and the primary is the only election in which minor party candidates can hope to appear (except for presidential candidates).
Justice Stevens in California Democratic Party v Jones said that Justice Scalia (writing for the court) was referring to the system of elections used in Louisiana.
Was Antonin Scalia merely inarticulate in not clarifying that he was thinking of the system used for electing Nebraska legislators and not that used in electing Louisiana legislators?
The Libertarian brief doesn’t mention the 2008 Texas presidential primary, where the Texas Democratic Party determined that Dennis Kucinich was not a bona fide Democratic candidate.
The evidence from the blanket primary in California in 1998 and 2000 is that in those contests where there was at most one candidate from any party, that 3rd party candidates did better in the primary than they did in the general election. That is, if voters were faced with the following ballot in June and November:
Smith, Democrat
Martinez, Republican
Lau, American Independent
Dexter, Peace&Freedom
Schmitz, Libertarian
that the non-Democratic and non-Republican candidates fared better in the primary. Now it could be that they received more support simply because the voters were not paying attention (eg only clueless voters vote Libertarian). But it appears that the electorate in the primaries is reflective of the general election electorate, at least when the State does not erect legal barriers to voting.
It appears that the lawyers for the parties are prolonging the case in hopes of collecting legal fees. Their interest may be misaligned with that of the political parties (ie either the lawyers will take a hit, or the political parties will have to pony up the fees).
# 8 Any private voter guides in WA State — LWV and other goo-goo [good govt] groups ??
ANY different gerrymander results in WA State due to the top 2 primary ???
P.R. and App.V.
NO primaries are needed or wanted.
Just finished reading the brief. A very well-written piece.
#10 In 2008, there was a state voters guide for the primary. In 2010, the state did not publish a guide on dead trees but had an online version, and many counties did have paper guide, which of course is more useful for legislative races.
I didn’t understand the part about the elections around the 1860s. Those elections were conducted much like the Top 2 Open Primary system.
During the Foster v Love oral arguments before the Supreme Court, Louisiana AG Ieyoub argued that Louisiana’s system was so unique that the general election (runoff) could be held anytime since the date set by Congress was not applicable. The lawyer of Love correctly pointed out that the system used in Louisiana was more like the electoral system used nationwide in 1872 when Congress set the uniform election date. And remember, Georgia used a Top 2- like system for its presidential electors in 1860.