As Jim Riley pointed out, “The Green Party only had 2672 voters statewide” in the 2008 primary, but Green Party Senate candidate Kathy Cummings was able to draw well over 100,000 votes in the General Election.

Green Party candidate Gerard Schmitt, who ran in the 95th district, drew about 22.39% of the electorate in his challenge to Republican incumbent Mike Fortner. (the Primary sponsor of HB 723). Schmitt’s General Election vote total alone (2657 votes) rivaled the total number of votes cast in Green primary statewide.

A number of Green Party members (like me) would rather not to use state sponsored Green Party Primaries at all, we prefer to select green candidates at our own general Membership Meetings. But HB 723 would leave us little choice.

Democratic Party operatives were able to keep Kathy Cummings off the Ballot in 2006, buy just making massive amounts of random challenges to signatures on her petitions.

Signatures on General Election petitions can be challenged and found invalid for any number of superfluous reasons. If Voters move after signing petitions then the signature may be found invalid. If voters sign petitions in a way that doesn’t match how it appears on their registration card it can be deemed invalid.

In 2006 our Governor Candidate Richard Whitney even had his own petition signature ruled invalid by the Judges, because it didn’t look enough like the signature on his registration card!

HB 723 passed the chamber by a vote of 112-4. Incumbent Republicans and Democrats may not agree on very many things, but they do seem to be able to agree, when it comes to limiting voter’s alternatives.

If you look at the election code, you will see that the 5% of the vote in the previous general election qualifies a party to nominate by primary, rather than get their internally nominated candidates qualified directly to the ballot.

And even if they don’t have any candidates running for a particular office, it is ward/township/precinct committeemen elected at the primary who have the power to nominate. In so doing, their vote is weighted by the primary turnout in the jurisdiction they represent, so in effect it is an indirect primary.

The Green Party only had 2672 voters statewide in their primary in 2008, so it is not unreasonable that if no candidate files, even as a write-in candidate, that they demonstrate a modicum of support through the petition process, if they can’t manage a modicum of activity in the primary.

Each election has its own primary. The consolidated primary is held in late February. The 16-day provision in the bill applies if there was no primary for a party for a office, because no candidate filed (including no declared write-in candidate). Since there are only 42 days between the consolidated primary and the consolidated election, the 16 day period is quite reasonable.

The general primary is held in early February. The deadline for filling a vacancy remains 60 days. What is changed by the bill is that, now the late nominee must file petitions for candidacy.

Since candidates can file as write-in candidates for the party nominations, there is really no reason that there shouldn’t be anyone nominated.