Oklahoma State Senator Kenneth Corn, and State Representative Neil Brannon have said they will introduce a bill in 2007 to repeal Oklahoma’s straight-ticket ballot device. Both are Democrats. The Oklahoma legislature won’t convene until February 5, 2007. That makes at least 4 states in which attempts will be made to end straight-ticket devices. The others are New Hampshire, Kentucky and Texas.

The Maryland Libertarian Party has finished its petition drive to be back on the ballot, and submitted the petition. This is the fifth petition that has been submitted around the USA in the last thtree months, to gain or regain party status. The others have been the Constitution Party in North Dakota, the Green Party in Maryland, the Libertarian Party in North Dakota, and the Independent Party in Oregon. It is very unusual for parties to submit such petitions for an election so far in the future (i.e., 2008), but it shows that people are already energized for that election.

On December 29, 2006, the New York Times repeated a factual error that it has repeated many times in the past. In an article titled “In Minnesota Shift, Case Study for National Political Shake-up”, reporter Kirk Johnson says that Jesse Ventura was elected Governor in 1998 as an independent.

The truth is that the Reform Party recruited Jesse Ventura to be its candidate for Governor in 1998. He won the Reform Party primary and then he won the general election. Because he was the Reform Party nominee, he received equal public funding with his major party opponents, and he received the top line on the general election ballot. As Governor, he played an important role in the Reform Party nationally. He endorsed Jack Gargan for national chair, and Gargan was elected national chair in 1999, against the wishes of Ross Perot. When a special national convention of the Reform Party in 2000 removed Gargan as national chair, Ventura and the entire Minnesota Reform Party disaffiliated from the national Reform Party and the Minnesota Reform Party changed its name to the Independence Party. The Independence Party of Minnesota is still a ballot-qualified party. It elected a State Senator in 2002 and in 2006 polled 7% for Governor. It is unfortunate that the New York Times cannot tell the truth about this bit of important history.

The lawsuit filed on October 13, 2006 against certain New Jersey election laws has never received a response from attorneys for the state. Finally, on December 26, attorneys for the state asked the court for a 30 day extension to answer the complaint. The case challenges several aspects of New Jersey law that discriminate against parties that didn’t poll 10% of the vote for all legislative districts in the preceding election. It was filed by the Conservative, Green and Libertarian Parties of New Jersey.

A new party in Oregon, called the Independent Party, turned in approximately 26,000 signatures on December 6, 2006. The state will know if the party has enough valid signatures by January 20, 2007 or so. The Independent Party seems to be either centrist or somewhat “progressive” and wants to stiffen Oregon campaign finance laws. It also wants to make it easier for independent candidates to get on the ballot. Because the 2005 session of the Oregon legislature made it much more difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot, the existence of the Independent Party offers a second vehicle for such potential candidates in the future. Also, the 2005 session of the legislature passed HB 2167, which says that in the future, independent candidates are to be labeled “Non-affiliated Voter” on the November ballot, not “independent candidate”. So, there was no problem with the Oregon Independent Party’s name being rejected as too similar to the term “independent candidate”.

Libertarian Party Organization v Clingman, the ballot access case filed by the Oklahoma Libertarian Party in 2004, has moved a baby step closer to resolution. It is pending in the State Court of Appeals. That Court has just assigned the case to the Tulsa Division. A hearing date and the identity of exactly which 3 judges will hear the case will be announced later.

In 2002, the Missouri Clean Water Commission was expanded from 6 members to 7 members. Unchanged at that time was an earlier law, that no more than 3 members of any political party sit on that Commission.

Recently the Sierra Club noticed that the Missouri Water Commission has 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats, and brought this to the attention of the press. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt pooh-poohed the problem, saying it is only “common sense” that one major party must be allowed to have 4 members on the Commission, notwithstanding the clear language of the law. The Sierra Club, in response, pointed out that the Governor is free to appoint an independent, or a member of some party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Missouri does not have registration by party, so it is sometimes somewhat unclear how to characterize any individual’s party affiliation. Thanks to Eric Dondero for this story.

On December 26, a challenge was filed to the petitions submitted to place Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley on the ballot. Chicago requires 12,500 signatures for anyone to get on the ballot in any citywide race. The elections have been non-partisan starting in 1999. Before 1999, Democrats and Republicans needed far fewer signatures, whereas everyone else needed 25,000.

Mayor Daley submitted 24,000 to meet the requirement of 12,500, so it is unlikely that the individual who challenged his petition will be able to show the petition is invalid.

The election is February 27, 2007. Five candidates for Mayor filed petitions; three of those five are being challenged.

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed plans to ask the legislature to revise Washington state procedures for ballot access for unqualified parties and independent candidates.

Currently, Washington state has a peculiar system that requires “conventions” of specified minimum numbers of voters in attendance, for independent candidates and the candidates of unqualified parties. These include 1,000 “attendees” for statewide office and down to 25 “attendees” for state legislature.

Since the state has always permitted outdoor “conventions”, in which anyone walking by who signs the roster is considered to be “attending”, this idea has long been rather silly. The Secretary of State proposes to give up the label “convention” and permit a straightforward petition. He proposes 1,000 signatures for statewide office, 500 for U.S. House, and 100 for state legislature and county office.

Unfortunately, he is also proposing to bring back the primary vote hurdle. Between 1978 and 2002, it wasn’t enough for independent candidates, and the candidates of unqualified parties, to show support at their own “conventions”. Such a showing of support only put them on the September primary ballot (except presidential candidates were exempt). Then they had to poll 1% in the September primary, as a condition of being on the November ballot. The September vote showing was held unconstitutional in 2004. A somewhat similar law was also struck down that year in Minnesota. Now Sam Reed proposes to bring it back, but with a smaller vote requirement (1,000 primary votes for statewide office, 500 for U.S. House, 100 for other partisan office).

The National Popular Vote Plan organization has found legislators to introduce its model bill in 47 of the 50 states. Almost all of these bills will be introduced in the first month that state legislatures convene in 2007. For most states, this is January 2007. The National Popular Vote Plan, described on this page in the past, is a means to bring about a presidential election system in which the person who receives the most popular votes nationwide will also win the electoral college.