Missouri Presidential Primary Filing Closes

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November 22 was the deadline for presidential candidates to file in Missouri’s February 7 presidential primary. See here for the list of candidates. The Republican presidential primary is only a “beauty contest”, with no direct impact on which delegates are chosen. Republican delegates are chosen at March caucuses.

The Libertarian and Constitution Party presidential primaries are also non-binding. No one filed for the Constitution Party primary, and James Ogle is the only person who filed in the Libertarian primary. Ballot access required a fee of $1,000.

Only four names are on the Democratic presidential primary ballot: President Obama, Darcy Richardson, Terry Randall, and John Wolfe.

Newt Gingrich did not file, and his campaign has not responded to questions from major newspapers asking why he didn’t file.

Florida Secretary of State Office Will Finish Re-Qualifying Parties by November 28

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The Florida Secretary of State’s office has been reviewing the paperwork of each qualified political party, to see if each party meets the new procedures for qualification. The biggest change is that each party must have at least three statewide officers, who must be registered members of that party who live in Florida. Here is the sample checklist for each party. This particular one relates to the Reform Party, which has recently been approved.

The Secretary of State expects to finish this process by November 28. Thanks to David Collison for the link.

David Brooks Suggests a New “Third Force” May Emerge

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The November 22 New York Times has this column by David Brooks, which, at the very end, suggests that the emergence of a new strong political party in the United States would be beneficial. The main point of the column is that neither the Republican Party, nor the Democratic Party, enjoys the confidence of a majority of the electorate. The column points out that throughout almost of the 20th century, either the Republican Party, or the Democratic Party, did enjoy support from a majority of the voters, and that party would be the governing party, or, in his analogy, the “sun party”.

Georgia Elections Advisory Council Recommendations Likely to be Released in Next Five Weeks

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On January 27, 2010, Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp announced the creation of the Elections Advisory Council, which was to hold hearings around the state and seek citizen input on improvements to the election laws. The Council’s report is expected sometime in the next five weeks. There is some reason for cautious optimism that the recommendations will include easing Georgia’s ballot access laws.

The Georgia ballot access laws for statewide office are so severe that no one has succeeded in using the minor party statewide petition since 1996, and no one has succeeded in using the statewide independent petition since 2000. The requirements for minor parties and independent candidates for U.S. House are so difficult, no one has ever used them since they were toughened in 1964. Even during the period 1943-1964, when the petition was 5%, but the state did not check the signatures, did not require a filing fee, did not require notarization, and had an October deadline, no minor party candidate for U.S. House ever qualified.

Two Lawsuits in Wisconsin on Whether Current Recall Petitions Should Use 2001 District Boundaries or 2011 District Boundaries

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According to this story, there are lawsuits pending in both federal and state court in Wisconsin over a new spate of legislative recall petitions. One set of plaintiffs, in the state case, argue that the recall petitions should be circulated in the new districts drawn by the legislature this year. The other plaintiffs, who filed in federal court, argue just the opposite, that since legislators elected in 2010 are the subject of the new recalls, the districts should be the districts that were used in the 2010 election.