Late on March 25, a Virginia State Court judge lowered the statewide primary petition for U.S. Senate, for the Republican primary, from 10,000 signatures to 3,500 signatures. The case is Omari Faulkner for Virginia v Virginia Dept. of Elections, Circuit Court, City of Richmond, CL20001456-00. See this story.
The state did not fight the case, but the Republican Party did fight it and had its own attorney in the case. Thanks to D.C. Sachs for this news.
On March 25, the Constitution Party National Committee approved a plan for a presidential convention that will be by videoconference. It will be May 1-2. Delegates must be registered by April 15. Presidential candidates may be nominated on the motion of two state delegations. Delegates can send debate questions in advance for the presidential debate. Each state delegation will caucus after the speeches and other presentations. Each state can decide for itself whether to have a physical meeting or a remote meeting. Chairs of each state’s delegation will announce their state’s vote, but each delegate will also separately e-mail his or her vote to the national secretary, as a back-up.
The fee to be a delegate has been reduced, so ironically that, along with the elimination of travel costs, may increase the number of delegates.
The party had amended its bylaws in 2008 to provide for this type of convention in case of a national emergency, so no bylaw change was needed.
The details should be on the party’s national website in a few days.
On March 24, Delaware moved its presidential primary from April 28 to June 2, by a governor’s proclamation.
The only state that now has a presidential primary set for April 28 is New York, and there are bills in New York for a later presidential primary.
On March 25 the Pennsylvania legislature passed a bill moving the primary for president and all other partisan office from April 28 to June 2. Governor Tom Wolf says he will sign it. It only applies to 2020. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. The bill has no effect on deadlines for minor party and independent candidate petitions. They continue to be due on August 3.
On March 19, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued an executive order concerning primary petitions. All such petitions are to be circulated electronically only, although signatures that had already been collected on paper are valid. The order also relaxes some of the paperwork for such petitions, including the requirement that the circulator of the petition must sign each petition.
However, the order does not apply to general election petitions. The general election petitions are due in early June, unless they are for president, and those are due in late July. Thanks to Brendan Phillips for the link.
