As this story explains, Proposition 14, the “top-two” measure, abolished party nominees and party primaries in California (except for President). So the California Democratic Party has already started holding meetings to decide which Democrat for various U.S. House and state legislative races will get the party’s endorsement for the June 2012 primary. This development illustrates one of the ironies of the movement in favor of “top-two”; that movement includes people who say they hate political parties and want to destroy the influence of political parties.
Russia holds a presidential election on March 4. According to this story, it is likely that stringent ballot access laws will block several leading candidates from the ballot. Although the Russian government has proposed easing ballot access, the bill to do that won’t take effect in time for the 2012 election.
Here is the “Motion to Quash Subpoena” filed by President Obama’s attorney in the Georgia case that challenges the President’s qualifications to be on the March 6 Georgia presidential primary. It is eight pages. The Administrative Judge was not persuaded by this brief, because it was on January 20 that he declined to quash the subpoena. The case is Farrar v Obama. The main argument made in this brief is that a Georgia state court subpoena is not effective if it is not served in Georgia. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On January 22, the Houston Chronicle published this story about the unknown date of the coming Texas primary. The story is interesting because it points out that the later the primary is, the better that is for non-incumbents who want to challenge incumbents in a primary.
No Texas journalist ever thinks to mention the effect of the primary date on petitioning for independent candidates and minor political parties. As has been said here several times, petitioning in Texas for independent candidates and political parties can’t start until after the primary. And the petition deadline for independent presidential candidates is fixed in the law as the second Tuesday in May, or May 14, 2012.
The Vermont Progressive Party, which has repeatedly won the partisan election for Mayor of Burlington (the largest city in the state) will not contest the March 2012 mayoral election. See this story.
Texas has a unique law, requiring that any group that intends to petition for party status must notify the state no later than January 2 of an election year. This year, ten groups filed the notice, more than ever before. The requirement has existed since 1993, has never been tested in court, and would probably be held unconstitutional if a new party formed after January 2 ever challenged it in court.
The ten groups that filed the notice are described in this Politex story. The ten are Americans Elect, Christian, Constitution, Generation, Justice, Make America Great, Reform, Revive America, Socialist, and Texas Independent Party. The Christian and Generation Parties have recently said that they don’t really expect to petition in 2012, although because they filed the notice, they are legally free to do so. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.