Alaska Constitution Party Recruits Pamela Goode, a Ron Paul Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention

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Pamela Goode, who has been active in the Alaska Republican Party, has changed her voter registration to show that she is a member of the Constitution Party. She was an Alternate Delegate pledged to Ron Paul in the 2012 Republican National Convention, and she has served in local elected office. She is also running in the October 1, 2013 election for Delta Junction-Fort Greely School Board. Here is her campaign statement. Scroll down to the bottom.

The Alaska Constitution Party expects to petition for a place on the 2014 ballot for Governor, although it has not yet chosen its nominee and it can’t begin petitioning until it has chosen a nominee. It is also carrying on a voter registration drive. It will become a ballot-qualified party if it either polls 3% for Governor in 2014, or if its registration rises so that it is equal to 3% of the number of people who vote for Governor.

Humphrey School of Public Affairs Issues Report on the Total Number of U.S. Senate Candidates on the Ballot throughout U.S. History

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The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs has issued this research on the total number of U.S. Senate candidates on the general election ballot throughout U.S. history. The U.S. has been holding U.S. Senate elections starting in 1914, so the report covers 100 years.

The report finds that New Jersey has had more U.S. Senate candidates on its general election ballots than any other state. This is not surprising, because New Jersey has had consistently easy petition requirements throughout its history. The 1890 law that requires 800 signatures for statewide independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, has never been amended.

The number of minor party and independent candidates for U.S. Senate is not entirely a function of how easy or difficult the ballot access laws are, though. Some states just have a political culture that has discouraged minor party and independent candidates. Mississippi has always had easy ballot access for both independent candidates and minor parties, yet Mississippi has had very few such candidates on the ballot throughout most of its history, although it has had many more in the past twenty years than it did previously. Mississippi has never required a petition for a party to gain a place on the ballot. The statewide independent petition in Mississippi was only 50 signatures between 1890 and 1955. In 1955 it was raised to 1,000 signatures. In 1966 the statewide petition was raised to 10,000 signatures, but the Voting Rights Section refused to pre-clear that change, so it went back to 1,000 signatures.

Fourth Circuit Rules that Sheriff Should Not Have Fired Deputy for “Liking” Sheriff’s Opponent on Facebook

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On September 18, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Sheriff of Hampton, Virginia, should not have fired one of his deputies. The deputy had “liked” the Sheriff’s election opponent on Facebook, and the evidence showed that the Sheriff fired the deputy for that reason. The lower court had ruled that “liking” someone on Facebook is not actual speech, but the Fourth Circuit disagreed. Bland v Roberts, 12-1671.

Utah Initiative Will Attempt to Eliminate Party Caucuses and Require Standard Primaries for All Parties

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Currently, Utah only holds party primaries when at least two candidates get 35% support at a party caucus. Candidates who don’t have that much support in party caucuses can’t run for party nominations. Plans are being made for an initiative that would eliminate the role of party caucuses in choosing nominees. All candidates seeking a party nomination would simply file to be on the primary ballot. The initiative would continue to let parties decide who may vote in their primaries. The initiative is due April 15, 2014. See this story, which uses the term “open primary” to mean a primary in which primaries are the sole determinant of party nominations.

Wisconsin Cases Over Photo-ID Law to be Tried on November 4

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U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman, a Clinton appointee, will hold a trial over Wisconsin’s law requiring voters at the polls to show certain types of government photo ID on November 4, 2013. The two cases are League of United Latin American Citizens v Deininger, 2:12cv-185, and Frank v Walker, 2:12cv-1128.

The League of United Latin American Citizens case was originally called Jones v Deininger, but the lone voter plaintiff in the case, Bettye Jones, died recently. On September 17, Judge Adelman ruled that that case may proceed, because the organizational plaintiffs have standing. The state had argued that only Jones had standing and that the case should be dismissed because she had died.

New Maine Voter Registration Data

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The Maine Secretary of State has released the first new registration tally since November 2012. The current percentages are: independent voters combined with unqualified parties 36.95%; Democratic 31.92%; Republican 27.25%; Green 3.88%.

The November 2012 percentages were: independent voters combined with unqualified parties 36.76%; Democratic 32.00%; Republican 27.39%; Green 3.84%. Here is a link to the entire report. Thanks to Thomas McMillan for the link.