On March 29, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of term limits for county elected officials, in those counties that have such term limits. Bailey v County of Shelby, W2005-1508. The decision has caused consternation in Knox County, since filing for the primary has already closed for those offices, and some county officials running for re-election are now deemed ineligible.

On March 27, Democratis State Senate candidate Lou Correa won his ballot access lawsuit. A state court rejected attempts by Correa’s opponent, Assemblyman Tom Umberg, to remove Correa from the primary ballot. The issue was a state law that says candidates seeking a place on the primary need 40 signatures, but can’t turn in more than 60. Correa had turned in 101 signatures. The law was not clear, so the Superior Court Judge resolved the issue in favor of voting rights.

On March 29, Louisiana Senate Bill 18 passed the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously. This was quick action, since the legislature has only been in session since March 27. The bill only applies to congressional elections. It would let each party decide for itself whether to invite independents into its primary.

The current system is the “top-two” system, with the first round in November and the run-off in December, in which parties do not actually nominate candidates. Instead, all candidates run on a single ballot, and the top two finishers compete later if no one got 50% in the first round. Sometimes this results in two Democrats in the run-off, or two Republicans. Louisiana officials have decided this sytem puts the state at a disadvantage, since sometimes its members of Congress don’t arrive until all other states have already sent their newly-elected members. Therefore, the best committee assignments aren’t available.

On March 27, a state court in Washington state struck down a statute that prevented a class of ex-felons from registering to vote. The class includes those who have served their prison time, but are still paying off fines. The plaintiffs are low-income, and at the rate they are paying off their fines, it will be decades before that obligation is complete. The court ruled that the law violates the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as state constitution’s equal protection clause as well. Madison v State, 04-2-33414-4, Seattle.

On March 27, a Missouri Democrat filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State, because she refused to let him appear on the Democratic primary ballot for U.S. House, 7th district. The Secretary of State refused to accept his candidacy because the Democratic Party of Missouri said the candidate, Glenn Miller, is a white supremacist (Miller accepts this designation as accurate). Miller v Missouri Secretary of State, 06-5032-cv-SW.

A few states empower political parties to reject a member or a candidate in that party’s own primary, if the member or candidate is not in sympathy with party principles. However, Missouri has no such law. Therefore, the state will need to establish that there is a common law right for political parties to exclude, something that will probably be difficult to do. This case may create an interesting precedent.

On March 24, South Carolina House Bill 3720 was signed into law. It provides for Instant-Runoff Voting in primaries, for overseas absentee voters. Louisiana and Arkansas already have similar laws. Run-off primaries (which exist only in the south) are a problem for overseas absentee voters, since mail service to many overseas locations doesn’t permit ballots for the run-off primary to reach them in time. So, these 3 states have chosen to use Instant-Runoff Voting, so that overseas absentee voters only need to vote once, combining the first primary with the run-off simultaneously.

Illinois State Senator James Meeks said over the weekend that he will attempt to create a new party, and be its gubernatorial candidate, this year. He is not only a State Senator, but pastor of Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church, which has 26,000 members. When he was elected to the State Senate in 2002, he won as the nominee of the Honesty and Integrity Party, so presumably that would be the name of his party. However, he is also running for re-election to the State Senate as a Democrat. If he goes ahead with his gubernatorial run, he would need to withdraw from his re-election race. Petitioning for third party petitions starts on March 28. Other petitions that will be circulating starting that day are the Green and Constitution Party statewide petitions.

At least two state parties held nominating conventions on March 26. The Nevada Green Party nominated Craig Bergland for Governor.

The Florida Libertarian Party decided not to nominate any candidates for statewide office, and none for U.S. House, but it nominated for two state legislative districts.

Some Florida Libertarians wanted to nominate the ticket of John Wayne Smith for Governor, and James Kearney for Lieutenant Governor, but a majority of delegates preferred to have no candidates for these offices. However, there is another qualified party in Florida called the American Libertarian Party, and it is likely that the American Libertarian Party will nominate these candidates. If so, Smith will be the first minor party nominee for Governor to be on the Florida ballot since 1920. Florida had an independent candidate for Governor in 2002, but has not had a third party nominee on the ballot in 85 years. The Socialist Party nominee for Governor appeared on the ballot in 1920.

The Constitution Party is now ballot-qualified in Montana, as a result of obtaining 5,000 valid signatures on its party petition. This time, the party is running a candidate for a statewide office (Clerk of the Supreme Court), so it is highly likely to poll enough votes to remain on the ballot for 2008.

In Nebraska, the Constitution Party’s affiliate, the Nebraska Party, has also re-qualified, by submitting 4,735 valid signatures. The party is now the only party on the Nebraska ballot, except for the Democrats and Republicans. The party is extremely likely to poll enough votes to remain on the ballot for 2008 as well, since it has candidates for several statewide offices, and there is no Democrat in those races, making it virtually certain that it will poll 5%.

Assemblyman Tom Umberg of California sued the California Secretary of State on March 20. Umberg charges that the Secretary of State should not have placed J. Luis Correa on the Democratic primary ballot, as an opponent to Umberg (both are running for State Senate). Umberg says Correa turned in too many signatures. The law says a candidate seeking a place on a primary ballot (for district office) needs 40 signatures, and that no one may turn in more than 60 signatures. Correa turned in 101 signatures. The case is Umberg v McPherson,06-406, Superior Court, Sacramento, and will be heard March 28.

This case will test whether the recent California Supreme Court opinion Costa v Superior Court applies to candidate petitions as well as initiative petitions. The Costa case set forth a “substantial compliance” rule for initiative petitions (see the March 1, 2006 Ballot Access News for more about the Costa opinion).