Rhode Island will not pass the National Popular Vote Plan bill this year. See this story.
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A new political party, which exists only in New Jersey so far, has filed petitions to place its nominees for U.S. Senate, U.S. House in two districts, and County Freeholder in two counties on the November 2012 ballot. However, New Jersey election officials have rejected the petitions because the name of the party is the Democratic-Republican Party. It is somewhat likely the group will sue.
The party doesn’t yet have a web page, but is associated with the web page boldtruth.com. That web page presents the case that in the early 1790’s, a constitutional amendment did actually get ratified. That amendment requires a member of the U.S. House for each 50,000 inhabitants.
The party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison was the Democratic-Republican Party. It was one of the two major parties during the period 1792 through 1820. The state won’t permit the name because the state says the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have exclusive title to those two words.
California’s 31st U.S. House district ballot in November 2012 will list two Republicans, Gary G. Miller and Bob Dutton. At the June 5, 2012 primary, Miller placed first with 26.9% of the vote, and Dutton placed second, with 25.1% of the vote.
However, the district has more registered Democrats than registered Republicans. The registration in the district is: Democratic 40.8%, Republican 35.3%, independent 19.3%, other parties 3.6%. The district is centered on San Bernardino County and had no incumbent running this year.
Four Democrats, but only two Republicans, ran in the June 5 primary. It is virtually certain that if fewer Democrats had run, Pete Aguilar, a Democratic candidate and Mayor of Redlands, would have placed among the top two. Aguilar placed third, with 22.5% of the vote. Democrats had been expecting to win this seat in November, but now it is impossible, because no Democrat is on the November ballot.
Miller had been a sitting congressmember in a district in Orange County, but he moved into this district. See this story which explains why. Miller was the beneficiary this year of $709,000 from the National Association of Realtors PAC, and from a super-PAC also funded by the Realtors. The PAC did not contribute directly to Miller’s campaign, but used the money to independently send direct mail and broadcast ads in support of Miller. Miller sits on the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the real estate industry. See this Whitter Daily News story for more detail. Miller also raised $736,115 in direct contributions, according to the FEC web page.
Supporters of top-two would say that the Democrats in the 31st district are fortunate, because they get to choose between two Republicans. Top-two proponents say the Democrats are free to choose the more “liberal” of the two Republicans. But neither Miller nor Dutton is “more liberal” than the other. Dutton is a sitting State Senator who was the Republican leader in the State Senate, until he resigned his leadership position earlier this year so as to concentrate on his Congressional race. Both Dutton and Miller are standard orthodox Republicans. Thanks to Nicholas Heidorn for the link, and to Rob Richie for drawing attention to this race.
On June 6, the Montana Secretary of State filed a 7-page brief in U.S. District Court in Kelly v McCulloch, defending her decision, made on May 29, to set a May 29 petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates.
On Friday, late in the day, May 25, the U.S. District Court had invalidated the statutory March petition deadline. No one was aware of this decision until Tuesday morning, May 29 (May 28 was a holiday). The Secretary of State’s decision, saying, in effect, “OK, the new deadline will be today” obviously gave no potential independent candidate a chance to take advantage of the new deadline. Therefore, the plaintiffs then asked the Court to set an August 15 deadline instead.
The Secretary of State’s brief says that the plaintiffs’ brief cites no legal authority for its argument that what the Secretary of State decided on May 29 is invalid. However, the Secretary of State’s brief doesn’t cite any precedent arguing that what she did is valid. There are no precedents, because never before in history has any state made a decision like this. Early petition deadlines have been struck down, or enjoined, 51 times in the past. Never before did a state election official then set a new deadline that was impossible for anyone to meet. Generally, when a state loses a constitutional ballot access lawsuit, it tries to offer meaningful relief. For example, when the New Jersey April petition deadline was enjoined on July 21, 1997, the state accepted petitions until July 28, 1997.
Montana’s brief is also deceptive. It implies that the new deadline is in June, which is not true; the new deadline is May 29.
Keiko Bonk is the Green Party nominee this year for Hawaii House of Representatives, 20th district. The incumbent in that district, Democrat Calvin Say, is running for re-election. Say has been in the legislature since 1976 and has been Speaker of the House since 1999.
Bonk was the Green Party’s first winner of a partisan election in the United States. She was elected to the Hawaii County Council in 1992, and re-elected in 1994. She was probably the first person who had ever won a partisan election in Hawaii who was neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Back then, her name was Keiko Bonk-Abramson.
The 20th district is near the University of Hawaii and is the type of district which is often receptive to Green Party campaigns.
Filing for the Hawaii primary closed on June 5. As expected, no one filed to run in the Americans Elect primary for any office. No one filed in the Libertarian Party primary either. The Green Party also has a candidate in the State Senate, 4th district.