Arizona Bill to Require Half of Signatures for Initiatives to be Collected by Unpaid Circulators

Arizona Representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) has introduced HCR 2005. It would require initiative proponents to obtain at least half their signatures from circulators who were not being paid. See this story. The bill would probably be held unconstitutional if it were passed by the legislature and then by the voters. In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states cannot bar paid circulators.

By analogy, in 1978, a U.S. District Court struck down Maryland’s March petition deadline for independent and minor party candidates. The legislature then passed a new law, saying one-third of the signatures for a minor party or independent candidate had to be submitted by the same March deadline, but that the remainder were not due until August. Another U.S. District Court in 1980 struck that law down as well, and the 4th circuit affirmed. Thanks to Ballot Box News for the link.

U.S. District Court in Ohio Rules that Some Provisional Ballots Must be Counted; Decision Depends on Bush v Gore

On January 12, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott ruled that Hamilton County Board of Elections must count 149 provisional ballots that were cast in November 2010. The case is Hunter v Hamilton County Board of Elections, southern district, 1:10cv820. Counting these votes will determine who won a very close election for Juvenile Court Judge, but of course if the votes are counted, that will increase the vote totals for all candidates in all races in the November 2010 election. Here is the 10-page order.

Generally, provisional ballots in Ohio that were cast in the wrong precinct cannot be counted. But in this instance, the evidence establishes that the voters appeared at the correct physical location to vote. There were several precincts contained within one physical space. Polling place officials mistakenly sent some voters to the wrong polling stations within that physical space. The federal court order says that because Hamilton County had already decided to count some other provisional ballots in which the voter was not at fault, therefore the County must count all such provisional ballots in which the voter was not at fault. The U.S. Supreme Court decision of December 12, 2000, in Bush v Gore, is the basis for the order, because Bush v Gore ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires that all voters be treated equally.

This case is dramatic, because the outgoing Secretary of State had directed that these ballots be counted, but the incoming new Secretary of State had reversed that directive. Also the State Supreme Court had ruled previously that such ballots should not be counted. See this story. Thanks to Carter Momberger for the link.

Possible Special California Statewide Election in June 2011 Will Probably Advance Vote-by-Mail

California Governor Jerry Brown is likely to call a special election for June, 2011, for votes on proposed tax and budget questions. It is likely that some counties will do whatever they can to eliminate polling places for this election, and depend entirely on mail ballots. For example, see this story about Humboldt County.

Oregon is the only state that votes entirely by mail. Washington votes entirely by mail except for one county, and the Secretary of State is urging the Washington legislature to pass a bill requiring all counties to use only mail ballots.

Libertarian Party Polled Over 1,000,000 Votes for Office at Top of Ballot in November 2010

The Libertarian Party candidates for the office at the top of the ballot, together, polled 1,016,270 votes on November 2, 2010. The office at the top of the ballot is deemed to be Governor, in all states electing a Governor in 2010. For states that didn’t elect a Governor, it is U.S. Senator. For the four states with neither office up, it is U.S. House of Representatives.

This was only the fourth time that any party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, had polled as much as 1,000,000 votes for the office at the top of the ballot, in a midterm year in the 20th or 21st centuries. The other instances had been the Progressive Party in 1914, the Reform Party in 1998, and the Libertarian Party in 2002.

The Constitution Party’s 2010 vote for office at the top of the ballot was 925,583, its best showing ever. The Green Party’s 2010 figure was 520,830. The Green Party’s best showing had been in 2006, when its top-of-the-ticket vote was 942,604.

For the major parties, the November 2010 vote for the office at the top of the ballot was: Republican 41,904,500; Democratic 39,911,467. Parties not named above polled 1,313,532 (almost half of those votes were from New York). Independent candidates received 983,482 votes.

The total share of the vote in 2010 for the office at the top of the ballot, that did not go to either of the two major parties, was 5.50%. That is the highest “other” vote for the top-of-the-ticket in midterm years since 1934. Previous “other” shares of the vote in midterm years have been: 2006, 5.0%; 2002 5.3%; 1998 4.9%; 1994 4.5%; 1990 4.6%; 1986 3.6%; 1982 1.8%; 1978 2.4%; 1974 2.4%; 1970 3.4%; 1966 3.2%; 1962 1.1%; 1958 .9%; 1954 .6%; 1950 1.1%; 1946 1.4%; 1942 4.8%; 1938 3.8%; 1934 5.6%; 1930 6.1%; 1926 4.5%; 1922 4.2%; 1918 6.8%; 1914 16.3%.