On September 23, the Hawaii Democratic Party filed this reply brief in Democratic Party of Hawaii v Nago, the lawsuit in which the Democratic Party is hoping to limit participation in its primary to members of the party. The brief was in response to the state’s brief, filed September 16.
On September 24, James Hall, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Alabama’s upcoming special election, First District, submitted 2,835 signatures. The petition deadline is September 24. The requirement is 5,938 valid signatures. Hall has a lawsuit pending, arguing that because the time for collecting signatures in this special election is so much shorter than in a regular election, therefore the state would reduce the petition requirement. He is citing several precedents that support his claim, including one from the Eleventh Circuit in 1982 called Citizens Party of Georgia v Poythress (Alabama is in the Eleventh Circuit). In that 1982 Georgia case, the normal petitioning period of 180 days was curtailed to only 50 days by late redistricting, so the Eleventh Circuit remanded the case back to the U.S. District Court and told the U.S. District Court to give some relief. The U.S. District Court then extended the deadline. Other courts in similar circumstances have reduced the number of signatures, to compensate for the shorter period for collecting signatures.
The Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee will hear SB 193 on Wednesday, September 25, at 1:30 p.m. This is the bill that, if passed in its current form, would remove the Constitution, Green, Libertarian, and Socialist Parties from the 2014 ballot. There are five points to the bill that are probably unconstitutional. I have e-mailed the Committee chair to explain these problems with the bill. If you are interested in seeing a copy of the e-mail testimony, please e-mail me at richardwinger@yahoo.com.
The Massachusetts Joint Elections Committee will hear HB 639 on October 16, at 2 p.m., in Room 2A of the Statehouse. The bill makes it more difficult for an unqualified party to apply to have its registrations tallied. Massachusetts law says that any group that wishes to become a qualified party may do so if it persuades at least 1% of all the registered voters to join the party, as shown on voter registration forms.
The bill says that groups that file to have their registrations tallied must submit a petition of 500 names. Also, if a group hasn’t attained at least one-fourth of 1% after two years, all its registrants are converted to independent voters.
One-fourth of 1% would be approximately 11,000 voters. Massachusetts has no ballot-qualified parties currently, except for the Republican and Democratic Parties. The only unqualified party that has one-fourth of 1% of the registrants is the Libertarian Party. The bill is sponsored jointly by Representative Angelo Scaccia (D-Boston) and William Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth.
It is disappointing that Secretary Galvin is asking the legislature to make this restrictive change, when there are so many badly-needed ballot access improvements in Massachusetts that he is ignoring. Massachusetts law doesn’t permit substitution for any minor party or independent candidate petitions. This is because in 2012, the Massachusetts Supreme Court interpreted the law to forbid substitution. Thus, an independent presidential candidate cannot start petitioning until he or she has chosen the vice-presidential running mate. This is a serious problem that ought to be addressed by the Secretary. In 1980, independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson did not choose his vice-presidential running mate until August 27, so if the current law had been in effect in 1980, Anderson could not have had his actual vice-presidential running mate on the November ballot.
Another problem the Secretary is ignoring is that the deadline for creating a new ballot-qualified party by registration is in November of the odd year before the presidential election. By all precedents, this deadline is unconstitutionally early, especially since the party registration method is the only means by which a newly-qualifying party can get on the ballot and have freedom to choose its presidential and vice-presidential nominees in the late spring or summer of the election year.
On September 23, the Washington Post released its own poll of the Virginia gubernatorial race. Here is the Post’s story about the poll, which shows Terry McAuliffe at 47%, Ken Cuccinelli at 39%, Rob Sarvis 10%, and wouldn’t vote or no opinion 3%. The story has a link to the poll questions and more results. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
It is bizarre that Sarvis is still being excluded from all gubernatorial debates. Over half the states routinely have debates in which at least some minor party and independent candidates for Governor and U.S. Senator are invited into debates.
On September 23, the Arizona Libertarian Party and the Arizona Green Party filed this 14-page brief in the Ninth Circuit, in Az. Libt. Party v Bennett, 13-16254. The issue is the state’s voter registration form, which lists only the two largest political parties as choices for a voter to choose a party. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party each have a checkbox on the form. If a voter wants to register into any other party, or as an independent, the voter must check the “other” box and write-in the desired choice.
Even if you don’t normally read legal briefs, consider reading this one. It is very clear and easy to understand and enjoyable to read.