On November 2, U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez issued a 6-page ruling, declining to strike down some of California’s residency requirements for petitioners, on the grounds that the state says it doesn’t enforce those laws anyway. The judge gave the plaintiffs until November 23 to amend their complaint, but to prevail, the plaintiffs must find anyone who was ever told that he or she can’t circulate outside his or her home district, or some candidate who was told that. Also if anyone ever submitted any petitions that were rejected because of the out-of-district law, that person could also be added to the complaint.
The case is Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, central district, cv10-2488. When the same issue arose in early 2010 for the Green Party of Arizona’s lawsuit on this same point, the judge in the Arizona case ruled that even though Arizona made the same defense (that it wouldn’t enforce the law), that did not save the law from being declared unconstitutional. The problem with a state saying that it won’t enforce the law is that most people won’t know that. There is no notice on any California official web page that says the residency requirement for candidate petitions is not enforced. The petition form forces people to sign a statement that says they are residents of the district.
So circulators should… what? Go ahead and sign to a statement they know is false?
Aren’t judges suppose to engender a respect for the law?
Wow. So much for the rule of law.
Each State since 4 July 1776 has been a NATION-State with the resulting *United* States of America — replacing the *United* Colonies of North America in the 2nd Cont. Congress.
See the last para. of the DOI, the 1777 A.C., the 1783 U.S.A.-British Peace Treaty and even the nearly dead U.S.A. Const. — esp. Art. I, Sec. 10, para. 1 and Art. VII.
See the admission of the *foreign* States into the U.S.A. — VT in 1791 and TX in 1845 — both independent republics.
Electors-Voters in each election area — EVERYBODY else is a political alien from another universe – kids, felons, foreign folks, etc.
Way too difficult for the MORON courts to understand.
comment #3 is not relevant. The California law won’t let Californians who don’t live in that particular district circulate a petition for a candidate in that district. This is not a case about out-of-state circulators.
# 4 Election AREA — Electors in THAT AREA.
ALL other folks are political aliens from outer space.
3, 5
What a silly comment.
It makes absolutely no difference who holds the clipboard, what state or country if any they are a citizen of, how old they are, much less what they may or may not have done in the past.
A petition sheet or clipboard can be supervised by anyone or no one. There should be nothing against sending them through the mail, stapling them to a telephone poll or billboard, or leaving them on a store counter.
All the petitioner does is call people’s attention to the fact that a petition is available.
If a 12-year old axe murderer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or a German Shepherd with a reflective orange vest and an Uncle Sam tophat, does the job equally well, then they are equally suitable for the purpose.
The only legitimate age, citizenship or residency requirement is for the person signing the petition, not for the person (or animal or vegetable or inanimate object – whatever works) that lets them know it is there for them to sign or not sign.
Circulators are de facto Notary Publics — once upon a time a high public office.
BS. Circulators hold up clipboards, just like card tables do, and call people’s attention to them, much as a blow up Ronald McDonald doll with its hand waving might. If someone signs something without reading it, it is their fault and no one else’s. Period, end of story.
Perhaps the author of #8 would like to look at the various petitions with multiple signers and phoney names for a life time job — and try to arrest such ILLEGAL signers of such various petitions — even if they are tourists or migrants passing through an area.
Once upon a time there was a DEATH penalty if one attempted to be connected with a political regime but were ILLEGAL in such regime — but now there is Ronald McDonald juvenile thinking in all sorts of areas — politics, economics, etc.
Proper remedy — perhaps internet petitions with passwords for each LEGAL Elector — good enough for a zillion online financial items.
Election officials do a validity check on petitions. So do petition coordinators.
The problem you state in #9 is easily solved.
As for people traveling for political purposes, you need look no further than the Freedom Riders who went down south to campaign for civil rights, but if you must have another example, foreign mercenaries played an important role in helping the American colonies win independence from England as well.
Welcome to the legal and illegal hoards of foreign folks in the U.S.A. — signing and circulating petitions.
A bit different for the French military allies in the U.S.A. in 1780-1781 — helping to defeat the EVIL Brits — VICTORY at the Battle of Yorktown, 19 Oct 1781 — help repaid in WW I and WW II.
Any of them go to New Orleans ??? — then French later American turf.
Signing petitions is one issue, circulating is another. Petitions can be circulated through the mail, in a newspaper….the possibilities are endless. Anything that works, and who does it is quite irrelevant if the results are checked, as is usually the case.
Any special interest gangs paying ILLEGAL foreign folks in the U.S.A. to circulate petitions for special interest gang candidates and/or ballot questions ???
What difference does it make who circulates the petition? A kid on a bicycle can deliver it to your house inserted in a newspaper, and a mail carrier can deliver it to the post office. Nothing about who signs petitions has anything to do with or what gets their attention to give them the opportunity. If flashing neon lights and pre-recorded messages get their attention, that’s fine too. The signatures all get checked, so if someone signs and shouldn’t be signing, it won’t make any difference.
#14 ALL signatures on large petitions do NOT get checked.
Some sort of random sampling is used — result — quite possible to have all sorts of illegal candidates and issues on the ballots — to confuse the voters.
But of course legality means very little in this New Age of anything goes.