On May 14, Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigned. Ohio will hold a special election to replace him, on November 4, 2008. Since the petition deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president) has already passed, special procedures apply. An independent candidate for Attorney General needs 750 valid signatures, due August 19, 2008. UPDATE: the deadline is May 27, not August 19.
There is no procedure for a previously unqualified party to participate in the special election for Attorney General. The deadline for a new party (early November 2007) was held unconstitutional by the 6th circuit in 2006, and the legislature still hasn’t passed a new law. Last year the Ohio Secretary of State created a new deadline that was a few weeks later than the old law, meaning late November 2007 instead of early November 2007. A state’s failure to have a procedure for new or previously unqualified parties, in a special election, was held unconstitutional in Green Party of Arkansas v Priest, in 2001. The fact that Arkansas had a procedure for independent candidates in the special election was not sufficient.
One more separate is NOT equal mess.
How many States have super – defective special election systems ???
What are the requirements for a qualified party candidate to get on the November ballot? Will there be a special primary?
I believe that the deadline for the petiotions is May 26. Per RC 3513.31 http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3513.31
For the Republicans and Democrats:
(I) If a person holding an elective office dies or resigns subsequent to the one-hundredth day before the day of a primary election and prior to the seventy-sixth day before the day of the next general election, and if, under the laws of this state, a person may be elected at that general election to fill the unexpired term of the person who has died or resigned, the appropriate committee of each political party, acting as in the case of a vacancy in a party nomination, as provided in divisions (A) to (D) of this section, may select a person as the party candidate for election for such unexpired term at that general election, and certify the person’s name to the appropriate election official not later than four p.m. on the seventy-sixth day before the day of that general election, or on the tenth day following the day on which the vacancy occurs, whichever is later. When the vacancy occurs on or subsequent to the seventy-sixth day and six or more days prior to the fortieth day before the general election, the appropriate committee may select a person as the party candidate and certify the person’s name, as provided in the preceding sentence, not later than four p.m. on the tenth day following the day on which the vacancy occurs. When the vacancy occurs fewer than six days before the fortieth day before the general election, the deadline for filing shall be four p.m. on the thirty-sixth day before the general election. Thereupon the name shall be printed as the party candidate under proper titles and in the proper place on the proper ballots for use at the election. If a person has been nominated in a primary election, the authorized committee of that political party shall not select and certify a person as the party candidate.
For everyone else:
(J) Each person desiring to become an independent candidate to fill the unexpired term shall file a statement of candidacy and nominating petition, as provided in section 3513.261 of the Revised Code, with the appropriate election official not later than four p.m. on the tenth day following the day on which the vacancy occurs, provided that when the vacancy occurs fewer than six days before the fortieth day before the general election, the deadline for filing shall be four p.m. on the thirty-sixth day before the general election. The nominating petition shall contain at least seven hundred fifty signatures and no more than one thousand five hundred signatures of qualified electors of the district, political subdivision, or portion of a political subdivision in which the office is to be voted upon, or the amount provided for in section 3513.257 of the Revised Code, whichever is less.