HB 1151 said that when U.S. House districts aren’t redrawn until the election year itself, statewide petitions are valid whether they use the old district boundaries, or the new district boundaries.

Presidential petitions in Virginia must carry the name of one presidential elector candidate from each U.S. House district. Unluckily for the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, the new districts moved one of their elector candidates from one district to another one.

Those petitions had begun to circulate after the legislature passed HB 1151 unanimously on March 2. The bill, as written, was to take effect immediately. But the Governor let the bill sit on his desk until the very last day in which he was required to act. Then, he sent it back to the legislature and asked that the effective date be changed to 2013. On April 18, the legislature unanimously agreed to do that, even though the Richmond Times-Dispatch had editorialized that the Governor’s action was unfair.

It is possible the parties will sue to reduce the number of signatures required this year. There is a 4^th circuit precedent from Maryland in 1981 that says when the normal petitioning time is not available, the ballot access requirements should be adjusted to compensate. There are also 10^th circuit and 11^th circuit opinons that agree.

On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Libertarian Party of North Dakota v Jaeger, the case that challenges the law on how qualified parties place candidates for the legislature on the November ballot. No minor party candidate for the legislature has been able to qualify since 1976. This was the 51^st case in a row filed by a minor party or independent candidate on ballot access that the Court had refused to hear (not counting a 1996 case on drug testing for candidates).

Arizona: on April 6, the State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Tucson may continue to use partisan elections for its own city elections. The legislature had passed a bill requiring all cities to use non-partisan, even if they are charter cities. The Court said the law violates the state Constitution. City of Tucson v State, cv-11-0150.

Arizona (2): on April 17, an en banc panel of the 9^th circuit reaffirmed an earlier decision of the 9^th circuit, and said that Arizona cannot require people who register to vote using the federal voter registration form to include proof that they are citizens. The decision says that when Congress passed the law authorizing the federal voter registration form, Congress didn’t intend to let states add more questions to the form. Gonzalez v State, 08-17094.

The federal form is a postcard, but Arizona was requiring certain kinds of voters to attach copies of a passport or a naturalization certificate, which to some extent defeats the convenience of a postcard form.

California: on April 26, U.S. District Court Judge Garland Burrell, a Bush Sr. appointee, declined to issue an injunction requiring the Secretary of State to place Peta Lindsay on the Peace & Freedom Party’s presidential primary ballot.

Lindsay is the presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and she is under age 35. Peace & Freedom Party v Bowen, eastern district, 2:12-cv-853. The primary is June 5.

The California Secretary of State has been sued four times by people who don’t believe that President Obama meets the Constitutional qualifications to be president. In those cases, the Secretary of State always takes the position that she has no legal duty to determine if a presidential candidate is qualified. In this case, the Judge distinguished the Lindsay situation from the Obama situation by saying that Obama’s qualifications are disputed, whereas there is no dispute in the Lindsay matter. The case is not over because the judge ruled that it is not moot and the issue may recur in future elections.

Hawaii: on April 23, voter-plaintiffs asked a U.S. District Court to postpone the August 11 primary, because the state’s redistricting may be held unlawful. Kostic v Nago, cv12-184. If the request is granted, that will make it easier for the Justice Party and the Constitution Party to pursue a proposed lawsuit against the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. Both parties submitted petitions by the February deadline, but both parties’ petitions were held to lack enough valid signatures. Since then they have been collecting more signatures.

New Mexico: although the Constitution and Green Parties recently filed a lawsuit against the April petition deadline, the state now says both parties have enough valid signatures on their petitions, so there is no longer a pressing need for relief against this deadline in 2012. Constitution Party of New Mexico v Duran, 1:12-cv-325.

North Carolina: the lawsuit filed by the Green and Constitution Parties against the May petition deadline has a hearing on May 8 in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, at 2 p.m. Pisano v Bartlett, 3:12-cv-192.

Ohio: on April 16, the Sixth Circuit voted 2-1 to require election officials to count certain provisional ballots that were cast in a partisan Cincinnati race for Juvenile Court Judge in 2010. The particular kinds of provision ballots in this case are not legal under Ohio law, because they were cast in the wrong precinct. But because election officials had counted certain other kinds of provisional ballots even though they were also not legal, the 6^th circuit said Equal Protection applies. Hunter v Hamilton County Board of Elections.

Oklahoma: the Libertarian Party is about to file its brief for declaratory relief, arguing that the March 1 petition deadline is unconstitutional. Libertarian Party of Oklahoma v Ziriax, western dist, 5:12cv-119.

Tennessee: on April 2, the state asked the 6^th circuit to stay the decision of the U.S. District Court that put the Green and Constitution Parties on the ballot. However, the state is not asking that the matter be expedited, and the parties seem safe for 2012.

Tennessee (2): on April 23, the 6^th circuit invalidated the policy of Tennessee Technological University that requires a non-student who wants to come on campus and talk to students to give 14 days advance notice. This ruling was won by a Christian evangelist, and it will also help petitioners. The school is public, not
private. McGlone v Bell, 10-6055.

The sponsor of the Arizona bill that would have put the public funding program at risk has withdrawn the bill. SCR 1021 would have asked voters in November 2012 if they wish to de-fund the program.

In a related development in Maine, the bill to delete the question on the state income tax form, asking voters if they wish to send a small donation to the party of their choice, has not yet passed. The legislature returns on May 15.

Candidates seeking the 2012 Constitution Party presidential nomination were Virgil Goode of Virginia, Darrell Castle of Tennessee, Robby Wells of North Carolina, Susan Ducey of Kansas, and Laurie Roth of Washington. For vice-president, Jim Clymer of Pennsylvania was nominated by acclamation. The convention was April 18-21 in Nashville.

The 15 states not listed did not send any delegates to the convention: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. By contrast, in 2008, these eleven states had no delegates: Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

C-SPAN carried Goode’s acceptance speech. Goode is the first presidential nominee of the Constitution Party who had previously been elected to important public office. He was in Congress 1996-2008, and was defeated for re-election in 2008 by only 737 votes. He was elected as a Democrat to his first two elections, then as an independent in 2000, and afterwards as a Republican.

The party’s new national chair is Frank Fluckiger of Utah, replacing Jim Clymer of Pennsylvania.

0

#partisan label permitted (other than "independent").
"AMER ELE" = Americans Elect Party.
*change since April 1 issue.

The only party that finished any petition in the last month, and which is not on the petitioning chart, is the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has finished the Arkansas presidential petition.

California and Arizona each now have an independent state legislator. On March 28, California Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher changed from Republican to independent. He is not running for re-election, and instead is running for Mayor of San Diego, a non-partisan post. He changed after the Republican Party had endorsed someone else for Mayor. He is California’s first independent legislator since 2010, when Assemblyman Juan Arambola had switched from Democratic to independent.

On April 2, Arizona Representative Daniel Patterson changed from Democrat to independent. Then he resigned. Under Arizona law, when a vacancy occurs in the legislature, there is no special election. Instead, the party membership of the member who vacated the seat is used to determine who fills the vacancy. Since Patterson was an independent before he quit, the Pima County Board of Supervisors replaced him with another independent, Nicholas Fontana. Arizona has never before had any state legislators who weren’t Republicans or D
emocrats.

Two parties that nominated Ralph Nader for President in 2008 have decided to nominate Rocky Anderson this year. The Oregon Progressive Party formally nominated Anderson on April 8, and the New Mexico Independent Party will do so at its caucus in June. The New Mexico Independent Party will change its name to the Justice Party. New Mexico, like many other states, permits a qualified party to change its name.

Cynthia McKinney plans to get on the ballot for U.S. House, 4^th district, as the Green Party nominee. She needs almost 19,000 valid signatures by August 6.

D.C.: at the April 3 primary, Jill Stein was the only name on the ballot. She received 216 votes. Roseanne Barr received 73 write-ins, and there were 27 other write-ins.

Massachusetts: the vote at the March 6 primary is: Jill Stein 1,018, Kent Mesplay 89, Harley Mikkelson 84. There were also 232 votes for a "no preference" option, and 95 write-ins, which were not tallied.

The Independent American Party recently obtained status as a qualified party in New Mexico. It has no interest in the presidential election, but it will nominate Jon Barrie for U.S. Senate, and it expects to also nominate some legislative candidates.

The Country Party has almost certainly qualified in Wyoming. It also has no interest in the presidential race, but is planning to run candidates for the legislature.

The Reform Party presidential convention will be in Philadelphia, August 10-12.

Buddy Roemer, who is seeking the Americans Elect nomination and the Reform nomination, has already received $285,470 in primary season matching funds. On April 27, Gary Johnson applied for primary season funds.