On January 27, the Virginia House Privileges and Elections Committee amended HB 1133 and passed it by a vote of 15-7. The original bill said parties could set their own ballot access rules for presidential primaries. The amended bill eliminates any mention of political party choice, and instead says that any resident of Virginia may circulate a petition anywhere in the state, for all office. The bill does bar minors and ex-felons from circulating, however, unless the ex-felon has had voting rights restored.
The bill has an urgency clause, so assuming it passes, it will go into effect in time to be helpful in the 2012 June primary and the general election. However, it does nothing to solve the problem that minor party and independent presidential petitions can’t circulate now, because those petitions have a residency requirement for presidential elector candidates, and the U.S. House district boundaries are still unknown. Although the bill setting up new districts did pass, it is being challenged in court and also faces Justice Department approval, which will not be easy to obtain. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.
What part of elections is NOT a WAR action ???
Who is a qualified Elector ?
Who is a qualified candidate ?
Who is a qualified petition circulator ?
What is each election area (i.e. each gerrymander area) ?
WAR – 24/7.
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V — to reduce the WAR stuff a bit.
Let’s look at the changes. The bill says that anyone who is “a resident of the Commonwealth and who is not a minor or a felon whose voting rights have not been restored” can circulate petitions, they need not be residents of the voting district for non-statewide elections, and, for presidential primaries/elections, a “constitutionally qualified candidate for President of the United States, who may witness his own petition” can circulate petitions. (Who determines which POTUS candidates are “constitutionally qualified”? Under other laws, apparently this would fall on the parties for primary petitions and the SBE for general election presidential candidate/circulators.)
Other than the district residency requirement and presidential candidate-as-circulator provisions, what is different? Formerly the circulator had to be a qualified voter or qualified to register to vote for the office, or if statewide, in Virginia. The SBE website summarizes the requirements to register:
To be eligible to register to vote in Virginia a person must:
Be a resident of Virginia (A person who has come to Virginia for temporary purposes and intends to return to another state is not considered a resident for voting purposes)
Be a U. S. Citizen
Be 18 years old (Any person who is 17 years old and will be eighteen years of age at the next general election shall be permitted to register in advance and also vote in any intervening primary or special election)
Not be registered and plan to vote in another state
Not currently declared mentally incompetent by a court of law
If convicted of a felony, your right to vote must have been restored
So those who will be able to circulate petitions under the bill, if passed, who could not under the current law (other than those outside the election district) are: Virginia residents 18 and over who are not US citizens, or who are still registered in and plan to vote in another state, or who are mentally incompetent. This is supposed to be an improvement???
By the way, the bill takes away the ability of Virginians who are 17 years old and will be 18 by the next general election (or in a presidential election year, by the presidential election whether or not there is a May general election in his/her city/town) to circulate petitions. (Ron Paul tends to attract younger activists. I wonder if any of his petitions were circulated by 17-year-olds?)
And it doesn’t take care of the court’s objection in the Perry lawsuit about not allowing non-VA residents to circulate presidential candidate petitions — just allows the presidential candidate to circulate his/her own petitions. What candidate is going to have the time to do that???