On March 1, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed SB 841, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The author is Senator Rob Johnson (R-Kingfisher).
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On March 8, the New Mexico Senate Judiciary passed SB 403 unanimously. This is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. It makes three ballot access improvements: (1) it moves the independent candidate petition from early June to late June; (2) it tells the Secretary of State to make the petition forms for party qualification available at all times; (3) it reduces the number of signatures for a party to qualify in midterm years, from one-half of 1% of the last presidential vote, to one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. Also the bill straightens out the confusion in the existing law as to whether petition signers should list their residence address or their postal mailing address; and it directs the Secretary of State to notify parties when they lose their ballot qualification.
SB 403 had already passed the Senate Rules Committee. Now it goes to the Senate floor.
On March 8, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed SB 602, which moves the non-presidential primary from July to June, and also moves the petition deadline for a party to qualify itself from May 1 to March 1.
On March 7, Independent Voting filed this five-page brief in Greenville County Republican Party v State of South Carolina, the case over whether the Republican Party may exclude non-members from voting in its primary. The case has a hearing on Thursday, March 10. The Independent Voting brief points out that it would be inappropriate for the judge to decide the case when there is as yet no hard evidence that non-Republicans participate in Republican primaries.
Independent Voting’s brief does not discuss the part of the lawsuit in which the Republican Party challenges the state law that says if the party wants to nominate by convention, it cannot do so unless 3/4ths of the delegates to the convention vote in favor of nominating by convention.
On March 8, California held a special election to fill the vacant Assembly seat, 4th district. Seven Republicans and one Democrat ran. No one got 50%, so there will be a run-off. The results are: Democrat Dennis Campanale 31.8%, and these results for each of the seven Republicans: Beth Gaines 22.5%, John Allard 21.5%, Cheryl Bly-Chester 9.7%, Michael O’Connor 5.7%, Matt Williams 3.8%, Rob Matthews 3.8%, Bo Ambrozewicz 1.2%. These results are not final and it is conceivable that when they are final, Allard will qualify for the run-off instead of Gaines.
This is the third special legislative election in California since the “top-two” system took effect. Under the old law, special elections were conducted under blanket primary rules. So far, in each of the three special elections under “top-two”, the new system has made no difference in the outcome. Under the old rules, no second round was held in a special election if someone got at least 50% in the first round, and someone did get at least 50% in each of the first two elections. In the recent 4th Assembly race, there will be a second round, but the same people who would have qualified for the second round under the old rules are the same two people who will be in it under the new rules.
The second round will have write-in space on the ballot, but no write-ins will be counted in the second round, even if someone files as a declared write-in candidate. Under the old rules, write-ins would have been counted in the second round.
The March 3 issue of Penn Current, student newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania, has this interview with former Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, who switched parties in 2009 and ran for re-election as a Democrat. He was defeated in the 2010 Democratic primary. Scroll down to the question that begins, “In your final floor statement in the Senate, you said ‘partisan gridlock’…” Specter’s response complains that the Democratic and Republican Parties are too extreme.
To support his statement, he mentions that Joe Lieberman was defeated in a Democratic primary in 2006, and that in 2010, he could not have won a Republican primary, that Senator Bob Bennett of Utah could not win a Republican primary, and that Lisa Murkowski could not win a Republican primary. But he doesn’t mention the fact that Lieberman and Murkowski had the courage to run in the general election without the nomination of either major party, and they both were re-elected. Many political observers felt that Specter could have been re-elected in 2010 if he had run for re-election as an independent, but he was not willing to attempt that. Thanks to Political Wire for the link. UPDATE: in 2012, U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican from Maine, is up for re-election. This Public Policy Poll released March 9 shows that she would have an easier time getting re-elected as an independent than she would winning a Republican primary.