GD's Political Animal: LP Texas

Showing posts with label LP Texas. Show all posts

Friday, September 11, 2020

Libertarians on ballot in NH and Texas

It’s official: Libertarian Party candidates to be on general election ballot | WMUR 9 - John DiStaso:

September 3, 2020 - " The Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday certified that nine Libertarian Party of New Hampshire candidates will appear on the general election ballot on Nov. 3. It was the final step in the LPNH effort that began in the spring to relax the thresholds for nomination papers needing to be collected, due to the restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, to have the candidates appear on the ballot.

"The party last week said it collected enough nomination papers in each congressional district to meet lower thresholds ordered into place by a federal judge. 'This closes this cycle’s ballot access saga,' said LPNH vice chair Richard Manzo.

"Appearing on the ballot will be candidates for president Jo Jorgensen; for U.S. Senate, Justin O’Donnell; for 1st Congressional District, Zachary Dumont; for 2nd Congressional District, Andrew Olding; for governor, Darryl W. Perry; for Hillsborough County Attorney, Nicholas Sarwark; for Hillsborough County Treasurer, Richard Manzo; for Hillsborough District 14 state representative, Robert Daniel; and for Sullivan County District 9 state representative, Tobin Menard."

Texas Supreme Court rejects Republicans' attempt to remove 44 Libertarians from the November ballot | Texas Tribune - Sami Sparber:

September 5, 2020 - "The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday rejected an attempt by Republicans to kick 44 Libertarians off the ballot in the November elections. Several Republican Party candidates and organizations had sued to remove the Libertarians, arguing they did not pay filing fees — a new requirement for third parties under a law passed by the Legislature last year. But the Supreme Court dismissed the suit, finding that the Republicans missed the Aug. 21 deadline to successfully boot people from the ballot....

"Groups affiliated with both major parties have gone to court in recent weeks to remove from the ballot non-major-party candidates perceived to be a threat. In general, Libertarians are believed to peel votes away from Republicans, while the Green Party is thought to siphon votes from Democrats.

"In multiple cases citing the same lack of a filing fee paid, state and national Democrats were successful in removing some Green Party candidates. The Supreme Court suggested that at least some Libertarians may have made the same mistake, but said the GOP was too late in bringing its legal challenge forward."

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Texas GOP tries to remove Libertarians from ballot

GOP seeks to strike 41 Libertarians from Texas ballot | Austin American-Statesman - Chuck Lindell:

September 1, 2020 - "Republican candidates and organizations are asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove 41 members of the Libertarian Party from the November ballots. All of the Libertarians are ineligible to run, the GOP argues, because they failed to pay a newly created candidate filing fee or collect the necessary petition signatures to avoid the fee. But the Libertarian Party argues that the GOP, which could have challenged the candidates in December, waited too long to seek a court remedy.

"'In the midst of pandemic, with life in general taking longer and facing more complications than usual, this Court should not exacerbate the problem by ordering counties across the state to stop preparing ballots so (the GOP) can strip Texas voters of their rights to vote for their chosen candidates,' the party’s leaders told the Supreme Court in a Tuesday filing.

"The GOP’s legal challenge is similar to a successful attempt two weeks ago by Democrats to remove three Green Party candidates for the same reason. The Republicans, however, filed their first court challenges after the Aug. 21 deadline to declare candidates ineligible, prompting the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals to dismiss three petitions as moot.

"So the GOP organizations and candidates, including four congressmen from Central Texas and the Travis County Republican Party, turned to the Texas Supreme Court, arguing that the 2019 state law that extended the fees to minor parties 'is less than crystal clear' on how to challenge candidate eligibility. The Republicans argued that they 'fell in the trap' of challenging the eligibility of candidates, too late as it turned out, when they should have challenged the candidate applications as improper under a different section of the state’s election laws.

"Removing candidates based on improper applications can take place any time before Sept. 18, when ballots are mailed to members of the military serving overseas, the Republicans told the Texas Supreme Court. Practically, however, the party acknowledged that the Texas secretary of state’s office has been arranging to print and distribute those ballots since Aug. 28, and its petition urged the Supreme Court to act as quickly as possible.....

"Libertarian Party ... officials urged the court to avoid a rushed decision over a filing fee that many Libertarians see as an unconstitutional poll tax — particularly with two court challenges underway. In the first, a state lawsuit filed by current and former party candidates in Harris County led to a court order blocking the fee as unconstitutional, though the ruling was halted by an appeals court that has yet to decide the case. The second involves a federal lawsuit by the party and several of its candidates that is set for trial next year....

"All nine members of the Texas Supreme Court are Republicans, including two who are opposed by Libertarian candidates who have been challenged in the GOP petition — Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Justice Jeff Boyd."

Monday, December 9, 2019

Texas judge blocks 3rd-party filing fees

Texas Libertarians celebrate as judge strikes down filing fees - HoustonChronicle.com - Taylor Goldstein:

December 6, 2019 - "One week before the filing deadline for Texas candidates, a judge in Harris County blocked the secretary of state from assessing a new fee for third-party candidates that was added by the Legislature this past session. Seven Libertarian voters and potential candidates sued over the law in state District Court in Harris County in October.

"Being freed of filing fees ranging from $750 for a candidate for state representative to $5,000 for a U.S. Senate election is a big advantage for a party that operates on a shoestring budget and whose candidates often run with little to no cash in their campaign coffers. 'It has had a massively positive impact in the last three days on candidate recruitment,' Neal Dikeman, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and a former Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, said Wednesday, adding that the party had previously expected recruitment to decrease by 50 to 90 percent....

"In a temporary injunction issued Monday, Judge Kristen Hawkins called the fees an 'actual or threatened violation of the Texas and United States Constitutions.' The injunction applies statewide.

“This temporary injunction was a crucial step to ensuring voters have choice at the ballot box, as half of all Texas races in 2018 would have been unopposed without Libertarian Party nominees,” said Harris County Libertarian Party Chair Katherine Youngblood, who represented the plaintiffs.

"While Democrats and Republicans are held to the same requirement ... [t]he money goes back to the parties through funding from the state for their primary elections. Third parties such as the Libertarians and the Greens, which nominate through conventions rather than primaries, do not receive such funding....

"A similar but broader lawsuit was filed by the Texas Libertarian Party, as well as the Texas Green Party and other third-party groups, in federal court in July. That lawsuit, which contests several parts of the law that they say limit third-party access to the ballot, is pending."

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