Wisconsin May Face More Legislative Recall Elections in Early 2012, but Confusion Over Which District Boundaries to Use

According to this story, Wisconsin Democrats are threatening to recall some more Republican state legislators in early 2012. But no one is sure whether the petitions should be circulated in the districts that were used in the elections during the period 2002-2010, or whether the petitions should be circulated in the newly drawn legislative districts. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Fourth Circuit Upholds North Carolina Independent Ballot Access Law

On October 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th circuit, upheld North Carolina’s ballot access requirement for independent candidates for U.S. House. The law requires signatures equal to 4% of the number of registered voters, or approximately 20,000 valid signatures in the typical district. UPDATE: here is the opinion.

The decision is very short and is unsigned. It says there is no way to diferentiate North Carolina’s law from the Georgia law upheld in 1971 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Jenness v Fortson. Actually, that is not correct. In Jenness, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law because the plaintiff was running for statewide office, and the record showed that two statewide petitions had succeeded recently, one in 1966 by the Republican Party candidate for Governor, and one in 1968 by George Wallace.

By contrast, in North Carolina’s case, no independent for U.S. House has ever qualified, in the 110 years that the state has had government-printed ballots. The 4th circuit ignored three more recent U.S. Supreme Court opinions which say laws that are seldom used are probably unconstitutional.

Louisiana Gubernatorial Poll Shows all Democrats Combined Only at 10%

Louisiana holds a gubernatorial election later this month. Ten candidates are on the ballot, including one Republican, four Democrats, one Libertarian, and four independent candidates. According to this poll, sponsored by WWL-TV, all four Democrats combined are only polling 10% of the vote. Bobby Jindal, the only Republican running, is at 57%, and 29% of the voters are undecided. The Libertarian, Scott Lewis, is at 2%, and the four independents combined are at 3%.

The four Democrats are Tara Hollis at 5%, Cary Deaton at 2%, Trey Roberts at 2%, and Nik Bird Papazoglakis at 1%. Thanks to Political Wire for the link. Under Louisiana’s top-two system, which is different than the top-two systems in California and Washington, if Jindal gets over 50%, there will be no second round.

Americans Elect Begins Montana Petition Drive

In the last few days, Americans Elect has begun circulating the petition for party status in Montana, which requires 5,000 valid signatures. Americans Elect is also working to organize itself in Mississippi and Vermont, two states in which no petition is needed, if a group demonstrates that it has an organization in the state.

Also in Montana, the Constitution Party is working on the same type of petition. The only ballot-qualified parties currently in Montana are the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties.