Ballot Access News reports
On September 22, U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton granted injunctive relief to Bob Barr and the Massachusetts Libertarian Party, and ordered them placed on the ballot. Barr v Galvin, 08-11340. The decision is eleven pages long. It says, “No public interest is served in having the wrong nominees on the ballot. Indeed, conversely, the public interest is advanced by including the right nominees on the ballot to avoid voter confusion. The Secretary asserts an interest in protecting the integrity of the election process but that interest is not threatened here.†Here is the text.
Although there has been some internal discord and disunity in the Libertarian Party this year, the Massachusetts lawsuit was a model of Libertarian unity. George Phillies, the stand-in listed on the Massachusetts Libertarian petition, helped win this lawsuit. Phillies is on the board of the Massachusetts ACLU, and the Massachusetts ACLU handled this case. Phillies himself gave testimony in support of the lawsuit.
This means that George Phillies is now on the ballot only in New Hampshire, and only if he prevails in the lawsuit in that state. Barr is now only one ballot line behind Ralph Nader in 2008 and Ron Paul in 1988, with more challenges pending.
Ballot Access News also
reports that Louisiana will announce a decision at 1:30 pm tomorrow on whether he (and Socialist Party candidate Brian Moore) will be on the ballot.