New Jersey U.S. House Independent Petition in 2022 is Fifty Signatures Instead of the Normal 100

Posted on by March 13, 2022
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Ordinarily, New Jersey requires 100 signatures for U.S. House, for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. However, in years after redistricting, the law says only 50 are needed. There are no filing fees in New Jersey.

The only other states with statutory lower requirements in years after redistricting, for U.S. House, are Illinois and Florida. In Illinois the requirement in years after redistricting is 5,000. In Florida the petition in lieu of filing fee is substantially lower than in normal years.

Alan Keyes Will Speak at Constitution Party National Committee Meeting in April

Posted on by March 12, 2022
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The Constitution Party has a national committee meeting in Erie, Pennsylvania, on April 29-30. Alan Keyes is the speaker for the Friday evening session. This is somewhat surprising, because Alan Keyes and the Constitution Party parted ways in 2008. Keyes had sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2008, but after he was defeated at the convention by Chuck Baldwin, his supporters left the meeting and then organized their own party, America’s Independent Party. The new party then nominated Keyes. The California unit of the Constitution Party disaffiliated from the Constitution Party and became the only ballot-qualified party that nominated Keyes.

See the announcement here, at the party’s national website.

The American Independent Party in California had two rival state conventions in 2008, and the faction loyal to the Constitution Party had a bigger attendance of state central committee members than the other faction did. But California Secretary of State Debra Bowen recognized the Keyes faction anyway, and since then the California AIP has never nominated the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee.

Washington State Legislature Adjourns; Only Two Election Law Bills Passed

Posted on by March 12, 2022
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The Washington State Legislature adjourned on March 10. The 2022 session only passed two election law bills. HB 1357 provides that overseas voters may obtain an electronic copy of the Voters Pemphlet from their county elections office. HB 1716 concerns voting centers.

Interesting bills that failed to pass include: two bills to use ranked choice voting in presidential primaries (HB 1926 and SB 5851); and HB 1265, which would have provided for a presidential primary ballot for voters who don’t want to sign in as members of a party that is holding a presidential primary.

Bill to Revive Mississippi Initiative Process Passes Senate

Posted on by March 11, 2022
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On March 8, the Mississippi Senate passed HC 39, the constitutional amendment to restore the statewide initiative process. However, the Senate amended the bill, so now it must return to the House for concurrence. The Senate vote was unanimous.

Mississippi had the initiative until last year, when the State Supreme Court ruled that it was fundamentally flawed and could not be used until it was fixed. The old law, part of the State Constitution, said signatures are needed from all five U.S. House districts, but Mississippi doesn’t have five districts any more. It only has four.

If the bill passes, then the voters will vote on it in November 2022.

Federal Court Strikes Down Montana Public Service Commission Districts

Posted on by March 11, 2022
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Montana has five districts, each one to elect a Public Service Commissioner. On March 8, a 3-judge U.S. District Court struck down the boundaries of the districts, because their populations are far from equal. The most populous district has 24% more population than the least populous district.

Here is the decision in Brown v Jacobsen, 6:21cv-92. The Court set forth new boundaries for each of the five districts. The state legislature is free to change them in 2023, but for the 2022 election, the districts drawn by the ruling are in place.

The reason the old districts were so unequal is that they were last drawn after the 2000 census.