On March 20, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Igartua v U.S., the case over whether international treaties that the U.S. has signed (promising to treat all citizens equally for voting rights purposes) force the U.S. to let residents of Puerto Rico have representation in the Electoral College. 05-650.

The Idaho Natural Law Party has 3 candidates for state and federal office this year, so it will continue to be qualified for 2006 and 2008. Although the Natural Law Party nationally has disbanded, the Idaho unit has allied itself with a new party (organized only in Idaho) called the United Party. The United Party webpage is www.unitedparty.net. The party was founded by Andy Hedden-Nicely, who once owned the Boise Weekly newspaper.

At the end of 2005, the Connecticut legislature passed “Clean Elections”, public funding for state elections. But the bill severely discriminated against candidates who are not Democrats and Republicans. Although all candidates need to raise a considerable amount of private donations to qualify for public funding, extra hurdles were placed on non-major party members. These included submitting petitions signed by 20% of the number of voters who voted for the office at the last election (for full funding, for independent candidates or new parties). Parties that had polled 10% at the last election were eligible for one-third of funding.

Now, bills have been introduced to ease the discrimination somewhat. SB 83 and HB 5572 would provide equal funding for parties that had polled 10% at the last election.

HB 5052 and HB 5610 would lower the petition, to either 5% of the number of registered voters (for full funding), 4% (for two-thirds funding) and 3% (for one-third funding). They would also lower the vote thresholds to 5% (for full funding), 4% (for two-thirds funding) and 3% (for one-third funding).

SB 625 deletes petitioning at all, so that (if this bill were enacted) new parties and independent candidates couldn’t participate at all.

All of these bills had a hearing on March 13, but no action has been taken yet.

There is no rational reason to build any discrimination into the public funding law. The “Clean Elections” of Maine and Arizona are refreshing in their simplicity and fairness; every candidate is treated the same, regardless of party. Candidates who raise enough private money qualify for public funding, period, regardless of party.

The Ohio Secretary of State has finally published the booklet “Election Statistics” for the November 2004 election. The booklet does not include the labels that were printed on the ballot for the few minor party and independent candidates who ran in that election. Of course, Republican and Democratic nominees are labeled as such in the book.

An independent candidate won a lawsuit in the 6th circuit, forcing the state to begin printing labels for independents. Previous to that, independent candidates on the Ohio ballot had no partisan label whatsoever. Even after the 1992 lawsuit was won, the Ohio legislature refused to amend the law to authorize labels until 2003, when it grudgingly passed a bill to print either “no-party candidate” or “other-party candidate” on the ballots. In 2004, Michael Badnarik (Libertarian presidential nominee) and Michael Peroutka (Constitution Party presidential nominee) each had “other-party candidate” printed next to their names on the ballot. These are silly labels, but better than no label at all. However, even these labels are missing from the printed election return book.

The Natural Law Party was organized in the United States in the spring of 1992, but its founders disbanded it in 2004. Nevertheless, it remains on the ballot in a few states. In California, it will be removed from the ballot in November 2006, since the law requires a party to poll 2% for at least one statewide nominee, and no one filed in its primary.

In Hawaii, the law is ambiguous. Since it was on the ballot for 3 elections in a row (1996-2000), it is entitled to be on automatically for another 5 elections, or through the 2010 election. However, it is possible Hawaii’s Elections Departments will still consider it disqualified since no one filed in its primary in 2004. The filing period for 2006 ends in July.

In Idaho and Michigan, it is possible that individuals who have not been associated with the party in the past will obtain the party’s nomination. In Idaho, a party remains on the ballot as long as it has at least 3 nominees for state or federal office. In Idaho, where the party nominates by primary, filing ends March 17. The Michigan deadline for a party to submit nominees (chosen by convention) is not until July.

The party is also qualified in Florida and Mississippi, states in which any party that submits a list of state party officers is considered qualified.

On March 11, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Yaffee ordered the city of Vernon to put three candidates for City Council on the ballot. The city clerk had said they couldn’t run because they were registered at a converted commercial space, and they had been evicted from that address. The judge said that just because the city evicted them doesn’t mean they aren’t bona fide residents. “Maybe they’re living on the streets, or in their cars”, he said. Eskndarian v City of Vernon, bc-346114.

On March 12, Kate Michelman declared she will not run as an independent candidate for US Senate from Pennsylvania. She is former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. There had been speculation she would run, since the likely Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate this year will be Bob Casey, who believes that abortion should be banned.

On March 11, the national Democratic Party’s Rules Committee recommended an alteration in the party’s rules, concering the calendar for caucuses to choose a presidential nominee. Current rules do not permit any caucuses or primaries before the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. The new rule would permit two caucuses before New Hampshire’s primary (but still after Iowa’s caucus). The April meeting of the Democratic National Committee will hear presentations from state Democratic parties that wish to apply for the “early” slots. The Democratic National Committee will then make a final decision of whether to go ahead, and with which two states, in June.

On March 10, Republican Congressman Elton Gallegly of California announced that he has a medical condition that will prevent him from running for re-election. He had already filed to be on the Republican primary ballot, and March 10 was the deadline for candidates to file to run in a primary.

California law says if an incumbent fails to file for re-election, the primary filing deadline is extended 5 days. However, that law doesn’t apply, since Gallegly already did file. California does not permit withdrawals. Prominent California Republicans who live in that district would like to run to replace Gallegly, but it is too late for them to get on the ballot. There may be write-in campaigns in the primary. The California primary is June 6.

Alabama law lets political parties prevent candidates from running in their primaries, if that party feels the candidate is “disloyal”. Recently, the Alabama Democratic Party prevented Steve Small from running for Jefferson County Commissioner. The reason is that, 4 years ago, Small ran as a write-in candidate for the same post in the general election, in opposition to the Democratic and Republican nominees.

In Alabama, write-in candidates do not file as declared write-in nominees. People who wish to campaign as write-in candidates simply campaign, but they need not file any declaration of candidacy. Therefore, in no sense was Small an “official” candidate 4 years ago. This recent Democratic Party decision shows the tyranny of an election system, like Alabama’s, which prevents people from running in the primary, and also makes ballot access for independent candidates extremely difficult. Alabama and New Mexico are tied for having the strictest ballot access petitions for independent candidates for statewide state office, in the nation (3% of the last vote cast).

Thanks to Ed Still for this news.