Vermont Secretary of State Appeals Favorable Ballot Access Ruling to State Supreme Court

Posted on by
3

On March 30, the Vermont Secretary of State filed a notice of appeal to the State Supreme Court, to try to overturn the February 22, 2011 ruling of a lower state court in Trudell v State. The lower court had ruled in that case that the June petition deadline is probably unconstitutional; but had agreed to hold a trial, to give the state a chance to submit evidence as to why an early deadline is necessary.

Before 2010, the Vermont petition deadline was in September. The legislature moved it to June when it moved the primary from September to August. Because Vermont has 120 years of experience with an independent candidate deadline in October or September, it is difficult for the state to produce any evidence that a June deadline is necessary. If the state says the deadline in June is needed to prevent sore losers, that argument is easy to rebut. If a state wants to ban sore losers, it may do so directly, without making the deadline early for all independents, sore losers and non-sore losers alike.

The state had asked the lower court for reconsideration, but the lower court denied that on March 30.

West Virginia Legislature Adjourns, Having Passed Few Election Law Bills

Posted on by
1

The West Virginia legislature adjourned on March 18, having passed few election law bills. Bills that failed to pass included two bills to re-define “political party”. Currently, a qualified party is one that polled 1% for Governor at the last regular election. The bills would have added alternatives. Another bill that failed to pass would have eliminated the straight-ticket device. Another would have passed the National Popular Vote Plan.

The Governor vetoed HB 2438, which would have clarified the definition of “independent voter” to make it clear that a registered member of an unqualified party is considered to be an independent. The only time this makes a difference is when a party entitled to its own primary has a rule allowing independent voters to vote in its primary. The Governor vetoed the bill because of other, unrelated provisions in the bill.

Restrictive bills that failed to pass included several bills to force declared write-in candidates to pay a filing fee (SB 29 and HB 2417); a bill to change the order of parties on the ballot so that the party with the most voter registrations is always listed first on the ballot (HB 2444); and a bill to provide that the names and addresses of people who sign petitions should be made public (HB 2533).

The Governor signed HB 3100 on March 30. It repeals the law that says liquor can not be sold on election day.

Action on Tennessee Ballot Access Bill Postponed

Posted on by
Reply

The Tennessee bills to make slight improvements in ballot access for new and minor parties have been delayed. This is fortunate, because it will give more time for Tennessee activists to make their case that the bills are not nearly good enough.

SB 935 was to have been voted on in the Senate floor on March 31, but that vote has been postponed to April 7. HB 794, which is identical, will be heard in the full State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday, April 5. The full committee will allow testimony, even though the subcommittee on March 30 did not allow testimony. However, people who wish to testify must give advance notice.

Both bills move the petition deadline from March to early April, but early April is still too early, according to the U.S. District Court decision from last year that struck down the old law. Furthermore, the bills do not reduce the number of signatures, 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. If the pending bills to lower the number of signatures pass in Oklahoma, Alabama, and North Carolina, then Tennessee will require more signatures (under this bill) to qualify a new party than any other state except California, Georgia and Texas. The 2012 requirement in Tennessee under this bill is 40,042 signatures. Tennessee didn’t require any signatures at all to qualify a party before 1961, and yet never had a ballot with more than six parties on it.

Oklahoma Bill, Moving Petition Deadline to March 1, Advances

Posted on by
2

On March 31, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed HB 1615. The bill has already passed the House. It moves the petition deadline for a new party to submit its petition from May 1 to March 1. It also moves the primary (for office other than President) from July to June. It even says that a new party cannot start its petition drive later than December 31 of the year before the election. This bill is clearly unconstitutional. An identical bill, SB 602, has passed the Senate and is pending in the House Rules Committee.

Meanwhile, the bill to lower the number of signatures for a new party, HB 1058, has passed the House but has not yet passed any Senate Committee. The deadline for it to pass the Senate Rules Committee is April 7.

Canadian Debates Set, but Green Party Leader is Still Excluded

Posted on by
8

The national Canadian election debates will take place on April 12 (in English) and April 14 (in French). See this story. The Broadcasting Consortium is still excluding the Green Party on the grounds that the party has never elected a member of Parliament, although the party has candidates in all districts in the May 2 election.

The logic of excluding parties that have not yet elected any representatives would have meant that the Republican Party would have been excluded in any 1854 debates. However, the party (which was only formed on July 6, 1854) went on to win more seats in the U.S. House in the autumn 1854 elections than any other party.

Idaho Senate Passes Bill for Party Registration

Posted on by
12

On March 30, the Idaho Senate passed SB 1198, the bill to begin asking registered voters to choose a party. The bill also provides for separate primary ballots for each party. Members of one party could only choose that party’s primary ballot. Each political party would decide for itself whether to let independents vote in its primary. The vote was 28-7.

Idaho has four qualified parties. They all nominate by primary. However, elections officials don’t print up primary ballots for parties that have no contested primaries, and generally the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party don’t have contested primaries.