Source: Libertarian Party (LP.org)

“I guess I was talked into the view that when you see something that needs to be done, you ought to step up and do it.”

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Source: Libertarian Party (LP.org)

WASHINGTON – While supporting steps taken over the past several years to end the unequal treatment of gays in the area of marriage, Libertarians say a just society is one in which no law depends on one’s sexual identity.

“Permitting couples to marry when they are of the same gender is a step in the direction of equality before the law, but a truly free society would not have government in the business of defining relationships at all,” said LP Chair Mark Hinkle. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On June 6, the Republican and Democratic Parties filed their opening briefs in Washington State Republican Party v State, 11-35125. This is the same lawsuit that was originally filed in 2005, against the Washington state top-two system. The major party briefs deal with freedom of association. The Libertarian Party’s brief is now due June 20, and it will focus on the ballot access arguments. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On June 1, a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania issued an opinion in Romanelli v DeWeese, middle district, 3:10-cv-1434. The plaintiff, Carl Romanelli, had sued various Democratic state legislators and legislative staff for using state resources to challenge the 2006 statewide Green Party petition. The opinion acknowledges that the Defendants broke state law, but says that there is no remedy in federal court for the problem. Here is the 18-page opinion. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Mark C. Miller, the Green Party nominee in 2010 in the Massachusetts State House race (Berkshire 3rd district) who received 45.02% of the total vote, will run for that same seat in a special election later this year. See this story. In 2010, Miller was in a two-person race with a Democrat. That Democrat has now been nominated for a high position in state government, so it is overwhelmingly likely that the seat will soon be empty and a special election will be held. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

According to this story, on June 9, the Chinese government ruled that independent candidates are not allowed in elections for county and township office. The article is not too clear, but it seems that “independent candidate” in China means someone who desires to be placed on the ballot, without going through some sort of nomination process that involves being vetted by various groups. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

New Jersey elects state officers in odd years. On June 7, the deadline for independent candidates to file in the 2011 New Jersey elections, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, a registered Democrat, filed to run as an independent candidate for State Senate, 2nd district. Langford is irked at the incumbent Democrat, Senator James Whelan, because Whelan supports the Governor’s plan for the state to set up an agency that would diminish Atlantic City’s ability to govern itself. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

A poll of the 2011 Kentucky gubernatorial election shows these results: Democrat Steve Beshear 51%, Republican David Williams 30%, independent Gatewood Galbraith 6%, undecided 14%. Thanks to Political Wire for the link. Read more »