On August 20, Texas SB 13 passed the House Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies. This is the bill for a later primary for 2022. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
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On August 20, Roanoke College released a poll for the Virginia gubernatorial election being held on November 2, 2021. The results: McAuliffe, Democrat, 46%; Youngkin, Republican, 38%; Blanding, Liberation, 2%; other 1%; undecided 13%. See question 4a at this link. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
The Texas House now has a quorum, and will meet on Monday, August 23. The House is expected to take up SB 13, to move the 2022 primary to a later date. This will have profound changes for Texas ballot access in 2022. Whenever Texas has moved to a later primary (generally because of late redistricting) ballot access changes significantly for that particular election year. This is because of the primary screen-out, and the law that says petitions can’t circulate until the primary is over. Thanks to Jim Riley for the news about SB 13.
The U.S. Supreme Court has assigned case number 21-226 to Libertarian Party of Ohio v Crites. The state’s response is due September 15. This is the case that challenges the Ohio law on the composition of the state Elections Commission. The Commission consists of three Democrats, three Republicans, and one person who is not a member of any party. Therefore a member of some other party can never qualify for membership on the commission. Yet the commission has jurisdiction over state-sponsored general election gubernatorial debates, which strongly affect parties other than the two major parties. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) has a board meeting on August 22, and the board expects to discuss this case and consider any ideas for obtaining an amicus curiae brief on the side of the Ohio Libertarian Party.
The California Secretary of State always sends a booklet in the postal mail to all registered voters, before a statewide election for partisan office. The Guide publishes statements from candidates, although the candidates must pay, on a per-word basis.
The Guide for the September 14, 2021 gubernatorial recall has statements from three gubernatorial candidates who are registered into unqualified political parties.
The three gubernatorial candidates who are registered into a political body are Michael Loebs of the California National Party, James G. Hanink of the American Solidarity Party, and David Moore of the Socialist Equality Party. For those three candidates, the heading on their statement says, “No qualified party preference.” But for all the other candidates who are associated with unqualified parties, the heading says, “No party preference.” For instance, the heading for the Socialist Workers Party candidate, Dennis Richter, is, “No party preference.” That is apparently because Richter did not fill out his voter registration form to show him as a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
This is a very miniscule recognition by the Secretary of State that it is misleading to force candidates to say they have “no party preference” when they do have a party preference. This recognition does not extend to the actual ballot itself, however. That says “party preference: none” for Loebs, Hanink, Moore, and Richter.