On May 7, the Louisiana House defeated HB 1095 by a vote of 28-63. This is the National Popular Vote Plan bill.
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On May 5, Judge James R. Browning of the 9th circuit died, at the age of 93. See this story. Judge Browning consistently ruled in favor of the ability of minor parties and independent candidates to gain access for the ballot. In 1985, he wrote the decision in Socialist Workers Party v Secretary of State of Washington, 765 F.2d 1417, which struck down Washington state’s law requiring minor party and independent candidates to poll at least 1% of the vote in the blanket primary, as a condition of appearing on the November ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed that in 1986 in Munro v Socialist Workers Party. Judge Browning also voted to strike down California’s ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties, in a case decided in 1976.
Judge Browning was chief judge of the 9th circuit for many years. The 9th circuit courthouse in San Francisco is named for him. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.
On May 7, the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the California procedure by which newly-qualifying parties get on the ballot. The plaintiffs include the Constitution Party of California and the California Justice Committee, which is attempting to raise money to qualify the Justice Party (Rocky Anderson’s party). Here is the complaint.
California requires newly-qualifying parties to have at least 103,004 registered members by January 3, 2012, if they are to list their presidential nominees with the party label on the November ballot. Or, alternatively, the state requires 1,030,040 valid signatures to be filed in the fall of the year before the election. These laws have existed virtually unchanged since 1953, and in the almost 60 years since they were created, only seven groups have successfully qualified.
The Green Party presidential candidates will debate each other in San Francisco on Saturday, May 12. The debate will include Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay, and Jill Stein. The location is the Victoria Theater at 2961 16th Street, at the corner of Mission. The event runs from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The cost is between $10 and $20 on a sliding scale. The debate host will be Rose Aguilar, host of “Your Call” on KALW-FM and author of “Red Highways, a Liberal’s journey Through the Heartland.”
The New York Times has this story about the U.S. Senate race in Maine, a race in which independent Angus King is expected to win. No independent or minor party nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine has ever before polled even as much as 10% of the vote, all the way back to the beginning of direct elections for U.S. Senate. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.