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The Democratic National Committee on Friday accused independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a supportive super PAC of violating election laws by working to get him on the ballot in multiple states—taking aim at a longshot 2024 candidate who could threaten President Joe Biden’s reelection bid. In a Federal Election Commission complaint, the DNC alleges the PAC—called American Values 2024—is illegally coordinating with Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, with Bob Lenhard, legal counsel for the DNC, telling NBC and other outlets the campaign is "in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution," referring to the $10 million...

A federal judge in California on Jan. 3 dismissed a lawsuit that sought to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 Republican primary ballot in that state. District Judge David Carter granted a motion to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice,” which means that it can’t be submitted to the same court again, according to court papers. A plaintiff attempted to argue that they suffered “emotional injury” as a result of the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while watching the events unfold on television, on the radio, and in various publications. They then argued that the...

A top Republican election attorney has joined a growing coalition of individuals and organizations investigating whether former President Donald Trump can be disqualified from the ballot due to his involvement in inciting the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Jason Torchinsky, a partner at the Virginia-based law firm Holtzman Vogel, has been involved in discussions about the idea of disqualifying Trump with various individuals, including former elected Republican lawmakers, fellow election attorneys and a retired federal judge who has played a significant role in scrutinizing Trump's eligibility. The effort to block Trump has been a hot-button...

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) said he does not have the ability to bar former President Donald Trump from running for president in his state Wednesday. There have been calls to bar the former president from being able to run in 2024 related to language in the 14th amendment where it states those who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government cannot hold office. Fontes said despite those claims, he cannot do so by way of a previous Arizona Supreme Court case. “Now, the Arizona Supreme Court said that because there’s no statutory process in federal...

In a rider passed in the last state budget, the legislature upped the ante for minor parties in New York. So, two of those minor parties, the Greens and the Libertarians, are suing. In the past, to achieve ballot status, minor parties needed to earn 50,000 votes for their gubernatorial candidates. In other words, they needed 50,000 votes to qualify for the ballot every four years – rules that have been in place for decades. The new rules are far more restrictive. They require that minor parties garner 130,000 votes or two percent of votes cast. Additionally, they demand that...

The state's highest court on Thursday struck Gov. Tom Corbett's only Republican challenger from the May 20 primary election ballot, leaving Corbett unchallenged for the GOP nomination he was favored to win anyway. In a 5-2 decision, the state Supreme Court reversed a Commonwealth Court ruling on grounds that conservative activist Bob Guzzardi's failure to file his statement of financial interests on time with the State Ethics Commission doomed his candidacy. "The untimely filing of the statement constitutes a fatal defect that precludes a candidate's appearance on the ballot," the majority wrote. Challengers backed by state Republican Party had raised...

WASHINGTON--GOP White House hopefuls Rick Perry and Ron Paul did not file correctly for the March 20 Illinois presidential primary "beauty contest," leaving them open to a challenge that could knock them off the ballot. Illinois law requires candidates to file using their home addresses. Paul, a Texas congressman used an address in Virgnia and Perry, the Texas governor used a post office box in Austin, Texas for an address. Newt Gingrich, Paul, Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Buddy Roemer all filed the required 3,000 signatures. Jon Huntsman skipped Illlinois.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum won't have a chance to vie for some of Ohio's national convention delegates. The state's top election official said Wednesday that the former Pennsylvania senator won't appear on the ballot at the district level in three congressional districts in the battleground state. That means nine of Ohio's 66 delegates are off the table for him. Ohio has a Republican primary system that requires people to vote twice. So while Santorum's name won't appear at the district level, voters could still choose to award him at-large delegates. The party doles out 48 delegates from the March...

Email from Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia. January 1, 2012 Dear Friends and Fellow Virginians, As many of you read yesterday in the news (link here for the story) I was considering supporting an effort to change the rules to allow the full range of presidential candidates on Virginia's ballot on March 6th. I obviously feel very strongly that Virginia needs to change its ballot access requirements for our statewide elections. However, after working through different scenarios with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in time for the 2012 Presidential election, my concern grows that...

Governor Brewer's "I do not support designating one person as a gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate" doesn't hold water. Under current Arizona law, the Secretary of State is the sole and solitary gatekeeper of the "qualification check" function, for those who seek the office of president of the United States. Arizona Statutes: 16-242. Qualifications for ballot; nomination paper A. A person seeking nomination as a candidate for the office of president of the United States shall sign and cause to be filed with the secretary of state a nomination paper ... C. Section 16-351 does not apply to...

I have been talking to people about the Republican Liberty Caucus, but I have been having a hard time explaining the issue to people. Our statements of principle have always centered around smaller government and proptecting our rights. A surprisingly small majority of Americans support these two principles, but it's enough to form a political movement. The RLC has its own statement of principles, and its own conventions. Members are not expected to tow the party line, especially for RINO's. I believe that we should sell the RLC as a separate political group that supports libertarians, constitutionalists, reform party members,...

The Libertarian Party announced Wednesday that it plans to file a lawsuit challenging the State Board of Elections’ decision to drop the party’s official status in North Carolina. “We’re tired of being treated like second-class citizens,” said Thomas Hill, state party chairman. Hill said North Carolina has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country and said even Iraq has more parties on the ballot. “That’s just vulgar,” he added. The state board decertified the Libertarian Party on Monday because the party failed to secure at least 75,000 signatures on a petition needed to remain on the...

Ralph Nader is charging the Democratic Party establishment with using "dirty tricks" and "political bigotry" to keep him off the ballot in important battleground states in last month's presidential election. "They did all the things that are described by the phrase 'dirty tricks,' and succeeded in getting us off some very important ballots," the perennial presidential wannabe tells Counterpunch magazine. Nader complained that state party leaders filed "21 phony lawsuits" that his team had to defend against. "We won most of the state Supreme Court decisions, but they harassed and intimidated our signature gatherers," he said. Among the states that...

PHOENIX - A federal appeals court on Friday rejected independent candidate Ralph Nader's bid to appear on Arizona's ballot. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came two weeks after early voting for the Nov. 2 presidential election had begun in Arizona. Nader attorney Robert E. Barnes said it's unlikely that the campaign would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nader had filed a lawsuit in mid-August alleging the state's requirements for third-party candidates are unconstitutional. A federal judge had denied his request to appear on the ballot and refused to give Nader another chance...

CINCINNATI - A federal appeals court has ruled that it would not grant presidential candidate Ralph Nader an injunction to block a lower court's order that removed him from the Ohio ballot. Nader had appealed an Oct. 12 ruling by U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus, who refused to place the independent on the ballot because of fraud by signature collectors. A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its decision Monday that Nader could not demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of the case. "The state administrative hearing officer found substantial evidence of...

HARRISBURG, Pa. The state Supreme Court today upheld a lower court ruling that ordered Ralph Nader off Pennsylvania's presidential ballot. The one-page order, released this afternoon, did not include any explanation. The intermediate level Commonwealth Court ruled last week that Nader's nomination papers left him more than six-thousand signatures short of the more than 25-thousand needed by registered voters to be listed on the ballot as an independent candidate. Nader's lawyers had appealed to the state Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to place independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot in Pennsylvania, upholding a state court finding of flawed signatures on voter petition sheets. Nader asked the high court on Thursday to review Pennsylvania's decision to remove him. A state court cited legal problems with his nomination papers that left him thousands of signatures short of the number required for the Nov. 2 ballot. Nader campaign spokesman Kevin Zeese called the decision "disappointing" and said Nader would continue to appeal decisions made on the state level, even after the election. Nader's request...

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader (news - web sites) asked the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) on Thursday to place him on the general election ballot in Pennsylvania, a battleground state expected to be critical in the outcome of the Nov. 2 presidential election. In a sign the high court planned to move swiftly, Justice David H. Souter immediately requested that Pennsylvania officials file a response to Nader's emergency request by 2:30 p.m. Friday. Nader's late-evening filing asks the Supreme Court to review Pennsylvania's decision to remove the independent candidate because of legal problems with his nomination papers that...

HARRISBURG - A state court knocked Ralph Nader off Pennsylvania's presidential ballot on Wednesday, citing thousands of fraudulent signatures including "Mickey Mouse" and "Fred Flintstone." Describing the petitions as "rife with forgeries," Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins said that fewer than 19,000 of the more than 51,000 signatures that Nader's supporters submitted were valid. Nader needed at least 25,697 to be listed on the ballot as an independent candidate. "I am compelled to emphasize that this signature-gathering process was the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court," Colins said in a 15-page ruling that followed...

HARRISBURG -- A state court knocked Ralph Nader off Pennsylvania's presidential ballot on Wednesday, citing thousands of fradulent signatures including "Mickey Mouse" and "Fred Flintstone." The ruling was one of two new setbacks for Nader. Also Wednesday, a federal judge denied the consumer advocate's bid for a spot on Hawaii's ballot.