On March 24, Irv Sutley died at the age of 79. He had been active in the Peace & Freedom Party in Sonoma County, California, ever since 1972. He was a PFP nominee for either Congress or legislature in 1978, 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1998. He also ran for non-partisan office as a PFP member.
See this lengthy obituary in the Press Democrat, the daily newspaper for Santa Rosa.
On April 1, the Georgia legislature passed HB 1312, which postpones the statewide partisan election for Public Service Commission from November 2024 to a special election in 2025. This is a severe blow to the Georgia Libertarian Party, because without this bill, Public Service Commissioner and President would have been the only statewide offices on the November 2024 ballot. A party must poll a number of votes for any statewide race equal to 1% of the number of registered voters, every two years, in order to stay on the ballot for statewide offices.
If Governor Brian Kemp signs this bill, President will be the only statewide office on the November 2024 ballot, and unless the Libertarian presidential nominee does exceptionally well in Georgia, the party will lose its qualified status (which only exists for all the statewide offices, but not district offices). Only in 2016 did the Libertarian Party poll enough votes for president to meet the vote test.
Consumer groups are angered by the bill and are hoping to persuade the Governor to veto the bill.
Christianity Today has this story about the American Solidarity Party.
The Second Circuit will hear Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, 23-1054, on Tuesday, May 14. This is the challenge to the May petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. The case was brought by Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo. He lost in U.S. District Court and then he appealed to the Second Circuit.
On April 9, the Georgia Republican Party filed this amicus curiae brief in Lake v Fontes, 23-1021. This is the lawsuit filed by two Republican nominees in Arizona over vote-counting machines.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear this case at its April 19 conference.
On April 9, both sides in Libertarian National Committee v Saliba, 23-1856, asked the Sixth Circuit to expedite the case. They are hoping for an oral argument in April. Here is their joint request.