Ballot Access News July 1, 2014 Print Edition

Ballot Access News
July 1, 2014 – Volume 30, Number 2

This issue was printed on lavender paper.


Table of Contents

  1. RHODE ISLAND REPEALS STRAIGHT-TICKET DEVICE
  2. CALIFORNIA BALLOT ACCESS BILL ADVANCES
  3. ACLU TAKES GEORGIA ACCESS LAWSUIT
  4. PENNSYLVANIA SUED OVER PETITIONER RESIDENCY
  5. HIGH COURT DECISION HELPS WITH STANDING
  6. D.C. ORDERED TO LET VOTERS ELECT ATTORNEY GENERAL
  7. NINTH CIRCUIT CUTS DISCLOSURE ON PETITION SHEETS
  8. OTHER LAWSUIT NEWS
  9. COMPARING ACCESS FOR OFFICE OTHER THAN PRESIDENT
  10. MINOR PARTY MEMBERS WHO RAN IN 2014 CALIFORNIA TOP-TWO PRIMARIES WITH AT LEAST TWO MAJOR PARTY OPPONENTS
  11. 2014 PETITIONING FOR STATEWIDE OFFICE
  12. “NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES” WINS NEVADA GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY
  13. EX-LEGISLATOR BECOMES GREEN NOMINEE FOR MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL
  14. NORTH DAKOTA LIBERTARIANS GAIN PRIMARY VOTERS
  15. FIRST INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA
  16. BALLOTPEDIA
  17. GREEN PARTY SUPERVISOR RE-ELECTED
  18. LIBERTARIAN PARTY MOVES INTO HEADQUARTERS THAT IS OWNS
  19. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

RHODE ISLAND REPEALS STRAIGHT-TICKET DEVICE
BILL PASSES SIX MINUTES BEFORE ADJOURNMENT

At 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning, June 21, the Rhode Island legislature passed HB 8072, to repeal the straight-ticket device. Six minutes later, it adjourned for the year.

A straight-ticket device lets voters cast a vote for all the nominees of one party, with a single mark on the ballot. Voters who use the straight-ticket device don’t even need to look at any part of the ballot except the very top, because the very top contains the straight-ticket device.

Straight-ticket devices are very harmful to independent candidates, because there is never a device for an independent candidate. The devices also injure minor party candidates. A candidate may have a great deal of appeal, if only he or she can get the voter to notice the name on the ballot, but the device causes many voters to avoid looking at the ballot.

Election officials dislike the straight-ticket device because it causes some voters to fail to vote on ballot measures and non-partisan races.

Senator David E. Bates, one of the prime sponsors of the bill, had been working to repeal the device ever since he was elected to the Senate in 1992. Ken Block, the founder of the Rhode Island Moderate Party, ran for Governor in 2010, and he realized how harmful the device had been to his candidacy and to the legislative nominees of his party. He organized virtually all of Rhode Island’s good-government groups into a coalition to work for repeal of the device.

Nevertheless, during 2013, the effort seemed thwarted, because the Speaker of the House, Gordon D. Fox, supported the device and refused to allow the repeal bills to advance. This was so, even though at the time a majority of the legislators had signed a pledge to vote to repeal the device.

However, on March 22, 2014, Speaker Fox resigned, and that opened the door for repeal. The bill passed the House on May 1. When it went to the Senate, it was amended to take effect in 2015 instead of this year. On June 21, the House passed the Senate’s version.

Rhode Island is the ninth state to repeal the device in the last fifty years. The other states that have repealed it, and the years of repeal, are:

  1. Delaware 1965
  2. Georgia 1993
  3. Illinois 1997
  4. South Dakota 1997
  5. Missouri 2005
  6. New Hampshire 2007
  7. New Mexico 2011
  8. North Carolina 2013

States that still have it are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

There is some reason to believe that Republicans will have a majority in both houses of the West Virginia legislature after the 2014 election, for the first time since 1928-1930. If so, chances are good that the device will be repealed in that state in 2015.


CALIFORNIA BALLOT ACCESS BILL ADVANCES

On June 17, the California Senate Elections Committee passed AB 2351, whicih eases the definition of "political party." The bill passed unanimously, and had passed in the Assembly unanimously during May, so it is likely to become law. It lowers the registration test from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to .33% of the number of registered voters.


ACLU TAKES GEORGIA ACCESS LAWSUIT

On May 29, the American Civil Liberties Union filed paperwork with the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Georgia, so that ACLU staff attorneys will now represent the Green Party and the Constitution Party in the pending ballot access case, Green Party of Georgia v Kemp. The case challenges the Georgia petition procedures for presidential ballot access.

Those procedures are so severe, no one has complied with them since 2000. They require 50,000 signatures, and each petition sheet must be notarized, which is very expensive, unless the group has volunteer notaries. However, anyone who notarizes any petition sheets cannot circulate as much as one sheet (even if someone else notarizes that sheet).


PENNSYLVANIA SUED OVER PETITIONER RESIDENCY

On June 9, the Libertarian and Green Parties filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s law that does not let out-of-state residents circulate petitions. Green Party of Pa v Aichele, e.d., 2:14cv-3299. The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O’Neill, a Reagan appointee.

The case challenges other laws as well: (1) the signer must fill in the year, in the "Date" column; (2) the notarization requirement; (3) the restriction that does not let residents of two different counties sign the same sheet; (4) the state’s insistence on using 2012 petition blanks for 2014. That is a problem because the 2012 petition has 20 blank lines at the top for a list of presidential elector candidates, which is confusing because the petition has nothing to do with a presidential election.


HIGH COURT DECISION HELPS WITH STANDING

On June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 13-193. The sole issue was whether the lower courts should have adjudicated the lawsuit that had been filed against Ohio’s law that criminalizes false speech about candidates or ballot measures. The lower courts had refused to decide whether the Ohio law violates the First Amendment, because the plaintiffs hadn’t actually been charged with a crime. But the Supreme Court said plaintiffs who are threatened with harm do have a right to file a lawsuit and to get a decision on the merits.

The decision will help with these pending ballot access lawsuits: (1) Constitution Party v Aichele, which attacks the Pennsylvania practice of charging tens of thousands in court costs if a petitioning group submits a petition that lacks sufficient valid signatures; (2) Raymond v Fenumiai, which attacks Alaska’s law banning out-of-state circulators; (3) Stein v Bennett, which attack’s Alabama’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties in presidential years. All three cases lost in U.S. District Court and are pending in Appeals Courts. The first two had lost on standing, and arguably the Stein case did also.


D.C. ORDERED TO LET VOTERS ELECT ATTORNEY GENERAL

On June 4, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Elections to put the office of Attorney General on the ballot this year. Zukerberg v D.C. Board of Elections. The order came only six days after the oral argument. The vote was 3-0.

The voters had passed a ballot measure in 2010, saying Attorney General should be an elective partisan office starting in 2014. But the City Council last year had set the first election for that office in 2018. The lower court had upheld the decision not to hold the election in 2014.

Although the 2010 ballot measure had said the first election would be in 2014, the actual text of the proposed law (which was not printed on the ballot) had not said when the first election would be held.

The D.C. primary was already held on April 1, so it is not clear how the November election will be run. Two Democrats have announced for the office and are circulating independent candidate petitions. Probably, even though this is a partisan office, all the candidates will be on the November ballot as independents.


NINTH CIRCUIT CUTS DISCLOSURE ON PETITION SHEETS

On June 16, the Ninth Circuit struck down a California law that requires each initiative petition sheet to list the proponents of the initiative. Chula Vista Citizens for Jobs v Norris, 12-55726. The decision says that there is no government interest in the law, because the names of the proponents are on file in the Elections office, and furthermore before an initiative starts to circulate, proponents must publish a legal notice in a newspaper and identify themselves in that notice. That part of the decision is 2-1. Judges Diarmuid O’Scannlain and Carlos Bea were in the majority; Judge Susan Graber dissented.

The plaintiffs had filed the lawsuit because they did not wish to have their names on each petition sheets. They had also sued to overturn another law that says only individuals can be initiative proponents. The plaintiffs wanted their group to be the official proponent, but they lost on that issue.

The reasoning of the decision (the part striking down disclosure) seems to conflict with the rationale for the Ohio law that requires every petition sheet to list the employer of the circulator. So far, that law has prevented the Ohio Libertarian Party from placing its gubernatorial candidate on the 2014 ballot. Although the Ohio case is still pending, the party has not been able to win injunctive relief yet.


OTHER LAWSUIT NEWS

Alabama: on June 2, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v State, 13-895, over whether the 2011 legislative redistricting discriminated against black voters by packing as many of them into a limited number of districts as possible. The lower court had upheld the state. If the U.S. Supreme Court reverses, there will probably be special legislative elections in 2015 or 2016, because normally Alabama only elects state legislators in midterm years.

Kansas: the Tenth Circuit will hear Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance Commission on August 25. This is the case in which Kansas and Arizona are trying to force the U.S. government to amend the federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship to be attached. The U.S. District Court had ruled I favor of the two states.

New Mexico: on June 3, David Crum, an independent voter, filed a lawsuit in lower state court, demanding to be allowed to vote in the major party primary of his choice. New Mexico has closed primaries. Crum depends on the State Constitution, which says, "Every person who is a qualified elector pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States and a citizen thereof shall be qualified to vote in all elections in New Mexico, subject to residency and registration requirements." Crum v Duran, d202cv-2014-3730.

federal law: on May 21, the Indiana Libertarian Party, the Libertarian National Congressional Committee, and an individual donor who wishes to support the party filed a lawsuit to overturn the part of the McCain-Feingold law that restricts giving to political parties. Rufer v Federal Election Commission, 1:14cv-837, in D.C. The lawsuit seeks to overturn contribution limits to political parties, but only in cases in which the money will be spent by the party, independently of the candidate. The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee.


COMPARING ACCESS FOR OFFICE OTHER THAN PRESIDENT

This page has a chart showing the average number of minor party and independent candidates for U.S. Senator 1990-2012, and a chart showing the same information for gubernatorial candidates 1990-2013.

The chart only includes regular elections, not special elections. Each state is listed in order, with the states with the most candidates at the top,

The purpose of these charts is to show which states have the most permissive ballot access laws for statewide office other than President. Most states have separate ballot access procedures for President, so the best way to compare ballot access laws for statewide office other than President is to use U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections.

The June 1 Ballot Access News had a similar chart, for Presidential ballot access.

The alternate method of comparing states, involving comparing the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot, is less realistic, because other restrictions, such as early deadlines, severe weather, notarization requirements, restrictions on who can circulate and on where petitioning can be carried out, also influence the ability of groups and candidates to get on the ballot.

During the period 1990 through 2013, the average state had 2.01 minor party and independent candidates on the general election ballot for Governor, and 1.85 for U.S. Senate.

The most crowded gubernatorial election was New Jersey’s 1993 election, which had 19 candidates (counting both major party nominees). The most crowded U.S. Senate election was a tie between New Jersey’s 2012 election and its 2000 election; both had eleven candidates.

The longest "dry spell" for either office was in New Mexico, where there were no minor party or independent candidates for Senate in the fourteen years between 1997 and 2011.

U.S. SENATE 1990-2012

New Jersey

6.38

Tennessee

4.88

Vermont

4.33

New York

4.00

California

3.50

Louisiana

3.50

Minnesota

3.50

Colorado

3.25

Michigan

3.25

Nevada

3.13

Utah

2.50

Florida

2.38

Illinois

2.38

Iowa

2.38

Wisconsin

2.38

Alaska

2.25

Connecticut

2.13

Oregon

2.13

Missouri

2.00

South Carolina

1.88

Arizona

1.75

Kansas

1.75

Delaware

1.63

Hawaii

1.63

Texas

1.63

New Hampshire

1.50

Oklahoma

1.50

Pennsylvania

1.38

Indiana

1.25

Massachusetts

1.25

Virginia

1.25

Idaho

1.00

Maine

1.00

Mississippi

1.00

Montana

1.00

North Carolina

1.00

Ohio

1.00

Georgia

.88

Maryland

.88

Nebraska

.75

Washington

.75

Kentucky

.63

North Dakota

.63

South Dakota

.63

Wyoming

.63

Alabama

.50

Arkansas

.50

Rhode Island

.38

West Virginia

.38

New Mexico

.25

MEDIAN

1.58

GOVERNOR 1990-2013

New Jersey

9.33

Tennessee

7.17

New York

5.33

Louisiana

4.50

Vermont

4.42

Minnesota

4.33

California

3.83

Alaska

3.17

Iowa

2.83

Colorado

2.67

Nevada

2.67

Wisconsin

2.67

Oregon

2.50

Maine

2.33

Utah

2.33

Hawaii

2.17

Connecticut

1.83

Massachusetts

1.83

Missouri

1.83

Florida

1.67

Texas

1.67

Illinois

1.50

Kansas

1.50

Michigan

1.50

Arizona

1.33

Idaho

1.33

North Carolina

1.33

Ohio

1.33

Rhode Island

1.33

West Virginia

1.33

Delaware

1.17

South Dakota

1.17

Indiana

1.00

Maryland

1.00

Mississippi

1.00

New Hampshire

1.00

North Dakota

1.00

Pennsylvania

1.00

Georgia

.83

Montana

.83

South Carolina

.83

Virginia

.83

Arkansas

.67

Oklahoma

.67

Wyoming

.67

Nebraska

.50

Kentucky

.33

New Mexico

.33

Washington

.33

Alabama

.17

MEDIAN

1.33


MINOR PARTY MEMBERS WHO RAN IN 2014 CALIFORNIA TOP-TWO PRIMARIES WITH AT LEAST TWO MAJOR PARTY OPPONENTS

DATE

CANDIDATE

PARTY

OFFICE

RANK

VOTE %

3/25/14

Jeff Hewitt

Libertarian

State Senate 23

4th of 5

6.5%

6/3/14

Luis Rodriguez

Green

Governor

6th of 15

1.5%

6/3/14

Cindy Sheehan

Peace and Freedom

Governor

7th of 15

1.2%

6/3/14

Amos Johnson

Peace and Freedom

Lieutenant Governor

8th of 8

.9%

6/3/14

Jena Goodman

Green

Lieutenant Governor

6th of 8

2.4%

6/3/14

Alan Reynolds

Americans Elect

Lieutenant Governor

7th of 8

1.3%

6/3/14

David Curtis

Green

Secretary of State

8th of 8

3.0%

6/3/14

Laura Wells

Green

Controller

5th of 6

5.7%

6/3/14

Ellen H. Brown

Green

Treasurer

3rd of 3

6.6%

6/3/14

Jonathan Jaech

Libertarian

Attorney General

7th of 7

2.4%

6/3/14

Natalie Hrizi

Peace and Freedom

Insurance Commissioner

3rd of 3

5.4%

6/3/14

Douglas Arthur Tuma

Libertarian

U.S. House 7

5th of 6

1.5%

6/3/14

Barry Hermanson

Green

U.S. House 12

3rd of 8

5.7%

6/3/14

Frank Lara

Peace and Freedom

U.S. House 12

5th of 8

1.9%

6/3/14

Lawrence Allen

Peace and Freedom

U.S. House 13

4th of 4

2.3%

6/3/14

David Koster Bruce

Libertarian

U.S. House 25

6th of 8

1.9%

6/3/14

Michael W. Powelson

Green

U.S. House 30

5th of 5

3.3%

6/3/14

Mark Matthew Herd

Libertarian

U.S. House 33

11th of 18

.8%

6/3/14

Michael Ian Sachs

Green

U.S. House 33

12th of 18

.7%

6/3/14

Howard Johnson

Peace and Freedom

U.S. House 34

3rd of 3

11.6%

6/3/14

Michael Benoit

Libertarian

U.S. House 50

3rd of 3

5.2%

6/3/14

John P. "Jack" Lindblad

Green

State Senate 18

3rd of 3

7.8%

6/3/14

Pamaela Elizondo

Green

Assembly 2

4th of 4

8.7%

6/3/14

Janice Marlae Bonser

Libertarian

Assembly 8

3rd of 3

7.1%

6/3/14

Eugene E. Ruyle

Peace and Freedom

Assembly 15

7th of 8

3.5%

6/3/14

Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik

Socialist

Assembly 62

7th of 8

2.5%

The June 1, 2013 BAN listed all the minor party candidates for federal and state office who had run in top-two primaries, when there were at least two major party candidates running. That chart showed that there had been 85 instances of such minor party candidacies, and never had a minor party candidate placed first or second.

The chart above updates last year’s chart. When this chart is combined with the chart from last year, there have now been 111 instances in which a minor party member ran for federal or state office, with at least two major party opponents. In all 111 instances, the minor party candidate was barred from the general election campaign because he or she did not place first or second in the primary.

This does not mean that minor party candidates ever lack enough appeal to be elected. When party labels are omitted from the ballot, minor party members in California do win important public office. Registered Greens have been elected to city councils, or to the mayor’s position, in these 26 California cities: Aliso Viejo, Apple Valley, Arcata, Berkeley, Buellton, Davis, Fairfax, Fort Bragg, Marina, Menlo Park, Modesto, Morage, Morro Bay, Nevada City, Oakdale, Ojai, Point Arena, Richmond, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Truckee, Willits, and Yucapia. Greens have also won County Supervisor seats in Mendocino and San Francisco Counties. Libertarians have been elected to city councils in these 11 cities: Arcata, Bellflower, Clovis, Moreno Valley, Mountain View, Palm Desert, Ross, San Gabriel, Saratoga, Simi Valley, and Villa Park. Libertarians have won County Supervisor seats in Calaveras and Placer Counties, and a Libertarian was elected Mendocino County District Attorney. Peace & Freedom members were elected to the Cotati city council. In addition, hundreds of members of these parties have been elected to lesser non-partisan office.

When party labels are on the ballot, it takes an exceptional effort for a minor party member to win, because the default position of most voters is to vote for a Democrat or a Republican. An exception effort takes time, but a top-two system truncates that time at the date of the primary.


2014 PETITIONING FOR STATEWIDE OFFICE

STATE
REQUIREMENTS
SIGNATURES OR REGIS. OBTAINED
DEADLINES
FULL PARTY
CAND
LIB’T
GREEN
CONSTI
Wk Fam
Party
Indp.

Ala.

44,829

44,829

*too late

*too late

*too late

too late

June 3

June 3

Alaska

(reg) 8,925

#2,975

already on

(reg)*1,769

*2,300

0

June 1

Aug. 19

Ariz.

23,041

*#34,028

already on

in court

*too late

too late

Feb. 28

May 28

Ark.

10,000

10,000

already on

already on

*too late

too late

Jan 2

in court

Calif.

(reg) 103,004

65 + fee

already on

already on

too late

too late

Jan. 2

March 7

Colo.

(reg) 1,000

#1,000

already on

already on

already on

0

Jan. 8

July 10

Conn.

no procedure

#7,500

0

already on

0

already on

– – –

Aug. 6

Del.

(reg) 637

6,364

already on

already on

*(reg) 380

*(reg) 535

Aug. 19

July 15

D.C.

no procedure

(est.) #3,900

already on

already on

0

0

– – –

Aug. 6

Florida

0

pay fee

already on

already on

already on

too late

May 2

May 2

Georgia

50,334

#50,334

already on

0

0

0

July 8

July 8

Hawaii

706

25

already on

already on

*too late

too late

Feb. 20

June 3

Idaho

13,102

1,000

already on

0

already on

0

Aug. 30

March 14

Illinois

no procedure

#25,000

*finished

*finished

*finished

*too late

– – –

June 23

Indiana

no procedure

#34,195

already on

*too late

*too late

*too late

– – –

June 30

Iowa

no procedure

#1,500

*750

0

0

0

– – –

Aug. 15

Kansas

16,776

5,000

already on

0

0

0

June 2

Aug. 4

Ky.

no procedure

#5,000

*1,100

0

0

0

– – –

Aug. 12

La.

(reg) 1,000

pay fee

already on

already on

(reg) 120

0

May 15

Aug. 22

Maine

(reg) 5,000

#4,000

*too late

already on

*too late

*too late

Dec 12, 13

May 25

Md.

10,000

* 37,293

already on

already on

0

0

Aug. 4

Aug. 4

Mass.

(reg) 42,391

#10,000

0

*3,500

*100

0

Nov. 5, 13

July 29

Mich.

32,261

30,000

already on

already on

already on

0

July 17

July 17

Minn.

146,297

#2,000

*already on

*already on

*too late

*too late

May 1

June 3

Miss.

be organized

1,000

already on

already on

already on

*too late

March 3

March 3

Mo.

10,000

10,000

already on

0

already on

0

July 28

July 28

Mont.

5,000

#11,823

already on

*too late

*too late

*too late

March 13

May 27

Nebr.

4,880

4,000

already on

0

0

0

Aug. 1

*Sep 2

Nev.

(reg. or pet) 9,738

250

already on

in court

already on

0

April 11

*Feb. 6

N. Hamp.

20,779

#3,000

*200

0

0

0

Aug. 6

Aug. 6

N.J.

no procedure

#800

*already on

0

0

0

– – –

June 3

N. M.

3,009

18,053

already on

0

*already on

0

June 24

June 24

N.Y.

no procedure

#15,000

*100

already on

*0

already on

– – –

Aug. 5

No. Car.

89,366

89,366

already on

*too late

*too late

*too late

*May 17

June 12

No. Dak.

7,000

1,000

already on

0

0

0

Apr. 11

Sep. 2

Ohio

27,905

5,000

already on

already on

already on

0

July 2

May 5

Okla.

66,744

pay fee

(already)

too late

too late

too late

March 3

April 11

Oregon

17,700

18,279

already on

already on

already on

already on

Aug. 26

Aug. 26

Penn.

no procedure

#16,639

*3,000

*4,000

0

0

– – –

Aug. 1

R.I.

17,115

#1,000

*25

0

0

0

June 2

July 11

So. Car.

10,000

10,000

already on

already on

already on

already on

May 4

July 15

So. Dak.

7,928

3,171

already on

0

already on

0

Mar. 25

April 29

Tenn.

40,042

25

(already)

already on

already on

0

Aug. 6

April 3

Texas

49,729

49,729

already on

already on

*too late

*too late

*May 26

June 26

Utah

2,000

#1,000

already on

too late

already on

too late

March 1

March 20

Vermont

be organized

#500

already on

*too late

*too late

already on

*too late

June 12

Virginia

no procedure

#10,000

*finished

0

0

0

– – –

June 10

Wash.

no procedure

#pay fee

*0

*0

*0

*0

– – –

May 16

West Va.

no procedure

#6,516

already on

already on

*5,000

0

– – –

Aug. 1

Wisc.

10,000

#2,000

*already on

*already on

already on

0

May 1

June 2

Wyo.

4,833

4,833

already on

0

already on

0

June 1

Aug. 25

TOTAL STATES ON
38*
22*
16*
5*
`

# label permitted (other than "independent").
"WK FAM = "Working Families".
*entry changed since May issue.
"Reg" = registrations.
"(already)" = party has placed a statewide nominee on the ballot, but party label is not allowed on ballot.


"NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES" WINS NEVADA GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY

Nevada held primaries on June 10. In the Democratic primary, "None of these candidates" outpolled all gubernatorial candidates. Although "None" has won a few other statewide primaries in the past, it has never before won one for Governor. One reason it won is that there were 8 candidates running for Governor on the Democratic ballot. The vote was: None 21,725; Robert Goodman 17,961; Stephen Frye 8,231; John Rutledge 6,039; Charles Chang 5,619; Chris Hyepock 4,743; Allen Rheinhart 3,605; Abdul Shabazz 2,731; Frederick Conquest 1,867.


EX-LEGISLATOR BECOMES GREEN NOMINEE FOR MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL

Andy Dawkins is the Green Party nominee for Minnesota Attorney General this year. He is well-known because he was a Democratic member of the legislature from St. Paul from 1986 until 2002. Also he is married to Ellen Anderson, who was a Democratic State Senator 1992-2011.


NORTH DAKOTA LIBERTARIANS GAIN PRIMARY VOTERS

North Dakota requires all qualified parties to nominate by primary, and has an open primary. Any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot, and the primary is in June. The state does not tally how many voters choose each party’s primary ballot, but it is possible to know this approximately, from the primary election returns. In 2010, the highest vote-getting Libertarian in the primary got 548 votes, but in 2014, the highest Libertarian got 1,555. While participation in the Libertarian primary tripled, participation in the Republican primary declined during the same four years, from 65,205 to 50,446. Democratic participation increased slightly, from 28,404 to 30,154.

The Libertarian Party needs to poll 5% for Secretary of State in November 2014 in order to remain on the ballot.


FIRST INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Tom Ervin, independent candidate for Governor of South Carolina, has been certified for the November ballot. He needed 10,000 valid signatures. He is the first independent candidate for Governor of South Carolina to qualify in history. South Carolina has only had government-printed ballots since 1950.


BALLOTPEDIA

Ballotpedia is a web page that was created in 2006, to post neutral information about ballot measures. Since then it has expanded, and now has comprehensive information about ballot access laws of each state. The web page has content about many other topics as well.


GREEN PARTY SUPERVISOR RE-ELECTED

Dan Hamburg was re-elected to the Mendocino County, California, Board of Supervisors on June 3, 2014. This is a non-partisan election, but he is a registered Green and was the Green Party’s nominee for Governor in 1998. He is also a former Democratic congressman.


LIBERTARIAN PARTY MOVES INTO HEADQUARTERS THAT IS OWNS

On May 31, the Libertarian Party moved into a national office that it recently purchased, at 1444 Duke St., Alexandria Va 22314. It is believed that the Libertarian Party is the only nationally-organized political party, other than the two major parties, that owns its own headquarters. The last other parties that owned their own headquarters were the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party; those offices were in New York city.

The Libertarian Party also seems to be the only nationally-organized party that has set the date of its 2016 presidential convention. It will be in Orlando, Florida, May 26-30.


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