On August 15, Jim Fitzgerald was told that he has enough valid signatures to be on the ballot for California State Senate district 15. He needed 13,533 signatures. He is the first independent to qualify for the California State Senate since 1994. He will be the only opponent to Senator Abel Maldonado, a Republican. The district lies along the central California coast.
No independent candidate for any state’s legislature has ever overcome such a high petition requirement before (when comparing the number of signatures required, not the percentage). Fitzgerald was a registered Democrat in the past. See his webpage at www.fitzgerald4senator.com. He has worked for United Parcel Service for over 30 years, most recently as an account manager.
Wasn’t there a Democrat write-in candidate who was challenging the state law based on the California constitution?
That Democratic write-in candidate, Dennis Morris, still hasn’t filed a lawsuit, unfortunately. Dennis Morris is an attorney and might conceivably still file such a lawsuit, but time is running out.
Wouldn’t the Democratic Party or even a Democratic voter have standing to bring the lawsuit?
The provision in the California constitution (a) requires nomination by primary; (b) placement on the general election ballot of the candidate with the most votes in the primary. It is more about voters’s rights than the candidate’s right.