Minor Party and Independent General Election Discussion

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As a person with colorblindness that can't determine shades well, I hate the OP's color pallet. The Greens in Indiana don't have ballot access and if that's the alternate color for write-in, they're very close.

New Jersey ballot access per Richard Winger:

Alliance
Constitution
Green
Libertarian
Socialism & Liberation
Unity
Kanye West. Kanye's petition is being challenged.

I don't believe De La Fuente is on the Oklahoma ballot.

[StateBoiler]

I seriously think this will be the lowest vote total for 3rd parties in a Presidential election. No serious candidates for the Libertarian or Green Party.

Hard to top 1984. 0.67% total.

2004 went really low following 2000. It's going to be lower this year than 2016 which was 6% once you count all the write-in votes, but I think somewhere in the range of 2-3%.

[StateBoiler]

I wonder if Evan McMullin will run again? No news in Wikipedia about whether he will. It does quote him in Wikipedia that he intends to run for some office again some day.

His organization has done nothing since the election in 2016 except send out emails.

[StateBoiler]

Third parties will get 1% of less of the national vote. I'm calling it.

How much money are we betting?

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Mark Charles has chosen Sedinam Moyowasifsa Curry as his VP. Yeah, so the Green Party performance this election isn’t looking very good what with 36% of the primary vote running their own campaign. I mean, probably the vast majority of Green Party members will just see the frontrunner as the only option, but in such conditions as now, even a loss of slight support makes all the difference.

Jesus lmao the green party is completely collapsing

Hawkins went around and won all these primaries which gave him near the majority needed to clinch the nomination at the Convention under Green Party rules. What is the losing candidates' outcry, that the primaries are not real Greens/shouldn't have that much influence?

A dues system for minor parties is probably the right way to go in the interest of growth.

[StateBoiler]

https://twitter.com/Politics1com/status/1288558865735249925

So I think this tweet is overconfident on the likely implications of this decision not to lower ballot access requirements in PA. I think that 5,000 signatures by Monday (given they've already been trying for a while) is definitely possible for the Libertarians at least. Maybe the Greens too? But the Libertarians very likely. If they're good at anything, it's working their asses off for ballot access.

I listened to a show from the We Are Libertarians podcast from early 2016 recently. On it they had a Libertarian National Committee member on who said they approved to spend more than $100,000 to get their ballot access in Oklahoma, and there was some discussion about whether that was money well-spent considering what else it could've been used for. Well Johnson got above 5% to retain ballot access for the Libertarians, and in the mean time Oklahoma has passed a law that anyone that spends $35,000 can buy their way on to the ballot, thus why Kanye West, Brock Pierce, and Jade Simmons are on.

[StateBoiler]

Leonard Peltier has ceased being apart of the PSL ticket for health reasons

This Sunil Freeman guy is basically a no name in who the party usually promotes, so I’m guessing they chose him because he’s far up the hierarchy in the Washington D.C. branch, a branch that was the original branch of the WWP after the East Coast that split from the WWP to form the PSL in the first place.

Considering he's in prison, I find "withdrawing for health reasons" a little disingenuous. It's not like he's going out and campaigning or anything.

[StateBoiler]

Idaho CP nominates the Blankenship/Mohr ticket.

[StateBoiler]

Leonard Peltier has ceased being apart of the PSL ticket for health reasons

This Sunil Freeman guy is basically a no name in who the party usually promotes, so I’m guessing they chose him because he’s far up the hierarchy in the Washington D.C. branch, a branch that was the original branch of the WWP after the East Coast that split from the WWP to form the PSL in the first place.

A shame. Peltier's case is tragic and this ticket if anything would've drawn more attention to it.

I think it's more P&F chose Freeman, and to have unity, Peltier "withdrew" for health reasons so they have a coordinated ticket in all states. There's some time between when P&F chose their presidential ticket at their convention and when PSL announced Peltier was withdrawing from the VP nomination. If it's just the health argument, that doesn't hold much water. He's in prison, so what does his health stop him from doing? He wasn't going out and campaigning even if he was healthy.

I'm not sure why the California Peace & Freedom Party allows themselves to be dictated to by the national PSL anyway. They were about 85% of the PSL's national vote in 2016. Remove that ballot access line and PSL were no different as far as performance than the Socialist Workers Party.

[StateBoiler]

Bar petitioning to get ballot access, probably the most significant ballot access decisions left is who the American Independent Party of California nominates if anyone (which is good for at least 70k votes probably) and whether any of the New York state parties choose to nominate some of these individuals, with the most likely being the Independence Party.

[StateBoiler]

Alliance Party's take on the ballot access progress of the De La Fuente/Richardson ticket from their August newsletter:



California I read as they think the AIP nomination is in the bag.

They also say that what they are on the ballot on in Delaware, De La Fuente's personal vehicle American Delta Party, will become the Delaware Alliance Party affiliate.

[StateBoiler]

District of Columbia Lowers Presidential Petition This Year Only From 5,007 to 250

Posted on August 6, 2020  by  Richard Winger
   
On August 6, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., signed bill B23-0864. For 2020 only, it lowers the presidential petition from 5,007 signatures to 250 signatures.

The petition deadline was August 5. As far as is known, the only presidential petitions submitted were for Gloria La Riva and Brock Pierce. The District has four ballot-qualified parties: Democratic, Republican, Green, and Libertarian.

D.C. had already lowered the other district wide petitions to 250 earlier this year, but the earlier change did not include presidential petitions. La Riva filed a federal lawsuit and the city chose to settle the matter with the new legislation.

[StateBoiler]

Libertarians turn in double the petition requirement and the Greens triple in Pennsylvania.

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Colorado ballot access, per BAN:

The seven qualified parties are: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Unity, and Approval Voting.

The candidates who qualified by paying the fee, in alphabetical order, are: Brian Carroll (American Solidarity), Mark Charles (independent), Phil Collins (Prohibition), Rocky De La Fuente (Alliance), Dario Hunter (Progressive), Princess Jacob-Fambro (independent), Alyson Kennedy (Socialist Workers), Joseph Kishore (Socialist Equality), Kyle Kopitke (Independent American), Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation), Joe McHugh (independent), Brock Pierce (independent), and Kanye West (independent).

[StateBoiler]

Libertarians' Maine petition successful. BAN:

The Maine petition to get Jo Jorgensen on the ballot as the Libertarian nominee for president has enough signatures, according to the Secretary of State. This makes it moderately likely that she will be on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions that have electoral votes. Thanks to Bill Redpath for this news.

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Greens' petition in Alaska and Alliance Party's petition in Maine validated.

Greens' petition in Pennsylvania being challenged by Democratic Party leaders. No challenge to the Libertarians' petition.

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Constitution Party petition in Alaska declared valid.

Vermont is supposed to have its list for presidential candidates today. This list is expected to be huge because the state in light of Covid-19 waived all petitioning and fee requirements. The Prohibition Party for example published a couple days ago they would be on the Vermont ballot for the first time since 1928.

[StateBoiler]

Colorado ballot access, per BAN:

The seven qualified parties are: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Unity, and Approval Voting.

The candidates who qualified by paying the fee, in alphabetical order, are: Brian Carroll (American Solidarity), Mark Charles (independent), Phil Collins (Prohibition), Rocky De La Fuente (Alliance), Dario Hunter (Progressive), Princess Jacob-Fambro (independent), Alyson Kennedy (Socialist Workers), Joseph Kishore (Socialist Equality), Kyle Kopitke (Independent American), Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation), Joe McHugh (independent), Brock Pierce (independent), and Kanye West (independent).

Who the heck are the Unity or Approval Voting parties?

Unity seems centristy, Approval Voting is single issue to wnact approval voting (candidate most people vote "approve" for gets elected, aka more confusing ranked choice)

Unity Party is a centrist party based out of Colorado. They seem a natural fit for the Alliance Party. I know their VP nominee Bodelstab "attended" the Alliance Party Presidential Selection Convention.

[StateBoiler]

Colorado ballot access, per BAN:

The seven qualified parties are: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Unity, and Approval Voting.

The candidates who qualified by paying the fee, in alphabetical order, are: Brian Carroll (American Solidarity), Mark Charles (independent), Phil Collins (Prohibition), Rocky De La Fuente (Alliance), Dario Hunter (Progressive), Princess Jacob-Fambro (independent), Alyson Kennedy (Socialist Workers), Joseph Kishore (Socialist Equality), Kyle Kopitke (Independent American), Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation), Joe McHugh (independent), Brock Pierce (independent), and Kanye West (independent).

Who the heck are the Unity or Approval Voting parties?

Unity seems centristy, Approval Voting is single issue to wnact approval voting (candidate most people vote "approve" for gets elected, aka more confusing ranked choice)

Approval voting just on its face seems dumb as hell to me. RCV at least makes sense. I know political scientists seem to love approval voting, but...

It's basically:

8 people in a group. Where are we going for lunch? Raise your hand for every option that's acceptable to you.

7 hands raised for pizza
6 hands raised for Chinese
6 hands raised for sub sandwiches
5 hands raised for burgers

Pizza it is. Most broadly acceptable choice.

It just...doesn't seem RIGHT for a political process, though.

I read a post somewhere else for the American Solidarity Party where they were discussing a past selection of their national board. They used approval voting for it. All the more conservative members only voted for conservatives and all the more liberal members only voted for liberals. More conservatives present, so they took all the seats. One of them chose to withdraw to allow a moderate onto the board in the spirit of the party and they decided to drop approval voting after that.

I feel it's one of those things that sounds great in theory but when you apply it to politics, people are going to game the system toward getting the result they desire, so it's one of those things that fall apart due to the gaming.

[StateBoiler]

Constitution Party sends out a press release they're on the ballot in New Jersey and Vermont.

[StateBoiler]

BAN:

The only ballot-qualified parties in Arkansas are the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian Parties. Unqualified parties can be on for president if they submit 1,000 signatures; also independent candidates for president need 1,000 signatures. These are two different types of petition. The presidential party petition doesn’t need the name of the candidate, and thus can be circulated before the group has chosen its nominee.

The groups or candidates who used one of the presidential procedures are: Alliance, American Solidarity, Constitution, Green, Life & Liberty, Prohibition, Socialism & Liberation, Brock Pierce, and Kanye West.

Life & Liberty are a Constitution Party splinter.

[StateBoiler]

So I know Kanye West didn't file in Georgia, but do we know who DID file in Georgia? Hawkins' website hasn't updated to deal with Georgia yet.

Is GA going to be just Trump/Biden/Jorgensen on the ballot?

It was only the main parties and the Libertarians on the ballot in 2016. Stein had write-in status only there.

[StateBoiler]

Ballot Access News: American Independent Party Nominates Rocky De La Fuente for President and Kanye West for Vice-President

On August 15, the American Independent Party, which exists only in California, held its state convention. It nominated presidential electors pledged to Rocky De La Fuente for president, and Kanye West for vice-president. The meeting was electronic with approximately 20 participants. The vote was unanimous, except for one abstention.

There is no law in California requiring general election presidential and vice-presidential candidates to assent to their nomination by a ballot-qualified party. The party had reached out to Kanye West in the past week, but could not reach him. De La Fuente, of course, had sought the party’s nomination and had placed second in the party’s March 2020 presidential primary.

100+ comments on the BAN article. Throwing out your normal gadflies, quite an argument amongst 3rd party people. William Saturn is an author at Independent Political Report. He has an axe to grind against De La Fuente, I think because he's just buying all these nominations.

[StateBoiler]

In Iowa, only the Republican and Democratic Parties are qualified parties, so all other parties must place their presidential nominee on the ballot by petition. Seven such petitions succeeded. They required 1,500 signatures.

The seven are: Don Blankenship, Rocky De La Fuente, Howie Hawkins, Jo Jorgensen, Ricki Sue King, Brock Pierce, and Kanye West. Ricki Sue King lives in Windsor Heights, Iowa, and her ballot label is “Genealogy Know Your Family History.”

[StateBoiler]

Vermont takes the title from Colorado this election for most.

The Vermont Secretary of State has posted the November 2020 candidate list. See it here. Click on “preliminary draft candidate listing for November 3.” For president, there will be 22 candidates on the ballot. The parties with presidential nominees are Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Alliance, American Solidarity, Socialism & Liberation, Socialist Workers, Prohibition, Bread & Roses, and Approval Voting.

In addition, these independents qualified: Mark Charles, Richard Duncan, Gary Swing, Kyle Kopitke, Christopher LaFontaine, Keith McCormick, H. Brooke Paige, Brock Pierce, Zachary Scalf, and Kanye West.

Socialism & Liberation will appear on the ballot under the Liberty Union line.

Here's a good game. Pick who finishes last.