Ballot Access News | Edited By Richard Winger

California Republican Legislator Becomes an Independent

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Richard Winger

On March 28, the news broke that California Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher is changing his registration from “Republican” to “independent”. He is not running for re-election. Instead, he is running for the non-partisan post of Mayor of San Diego. He has been one of the four whips of the California Republican Assembly caucus.

Recently the San Diego Republican Party endorsed someone else for Mayor of San Diego. The election for Mayor is June 5, 2012, and if no one gets at least 50%, a run-off will be held in November. The Mayoral race has four candidates. Besides Fletcher, one is a Democrat and two are Republicans.

The last California independent legislator was Assemblyman Juan Arambula, of Fresno, who switched from the Democratic Party to independent status in June 2009. He did not run for re-election in 2010 because he was term-limited. Before that, the last independent in the California legislature was Audie Bock, who switched from being a Green, to being an independent, in late 1999. The last person actually elected as an independent to the California legislature was Quentin Kopp, re-elected as an independent in 1990 and 1994.

Campus Newspaper Covers Economics Professor’s Campaign for Americans Elect Nomination

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Richard Winger

The Daily Free Press, an independent student newspaper at Boston University, has this article about Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff’s campaign for the Americans Elect presidential nomination. As the story says, because he has never held important elected office, he needs 50,000 clicks, not 10,000 clicks, to be nominated. “Click” means a vote in the Americans Elect on-line nomination process. The deadline for showing this support is April 30.

Professor Kotlikoff believes he is the first Economics Professor to ever run for President. He is a registered independent, although he served as an economics advisor under President Ronald Reagan.

Constitution Party Petition Approved in Wyoming

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Richard Winger

The Constitution Party has qualified for the ballot in Wyoming, for the first time in its history. The Secretary of State has determined that its petition has enough valid signatures. Wyoming now has five ballot-qualified parties. The others are Democratic, Republican, Americans Elect, and Libertarian.

Montana Corporations File Cert Petition in Campaign Finance Case

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Richard Winger

On March 27, the Montana corporations who lost in the Montana Supreme Court on December 30, 2011, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal. The issue is whether the First Amendment protects the ability of corporations to spend money speaking about candidates for state office. Here is the petition. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Alabama Ballot Access Bill Will Receive a Senate Floor Vote on April 3

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Richard Winger

The Alabama Senate Rules Committee has sent SB 15 to the Senate floor, for a vote on Tuesday, April 3. This is the bill that reduces the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from over 44,000 signatures, to 5,000 signatures. Thanks to Don Webb for this news.

North Carolina Constitution Party Files Lawsuit Against May Petition Deadline

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Richard Winger

On March 27, the North Carolina Constitution Party filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against North Carolina’s May petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The case is North Carolina Constitution Party v Bartlett. It is expected that the North Carolina Green Party will soon join the case.

In 1988, North Carolina’s Board of Elections was so sure that the May petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties is unconstitutional, that it waived the deadline and allowed the New Alliance Party to submit its petition in July.

States in which May and June petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties to submit their signatures have been held too early, or have been enjoined, are Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Also, in Populist Party v Herschler, a Wyoming case, the 10th circuit said that June is probably too early, but didn’t definitely decide the issue. States in which independent presidential petition deadlines in May and June have been struck down are Arizona, Kansas, and South Dakota. In some instances, the states agreed that their deadlines were too early and didn’t contest the lawsuit. North Carolina clearly has no state interest in requiring newly-qualifying parties to submit the petition in May, because in North Carolina, newly-qualifying parties do not nominate by primary, and the state lets independent candidates submit their petitions in June.