The San Francisco Chronicle has this story about the Common Sense Party, which is trying to qualify in California and seems to have the financial resources to succeed.
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On September 12, the California Senate Elections Committee passed SB 696, the bill to make it illegal for any party to have “Independent” or “Independence” in its party name. The bill says that the American Independent Party must choose a new name by October 29, or all its registrations will be converted to independent voters. The vote was 4-1, with the “no” vote being cast by Senator Jim Nielsen, the only Republican on the committee.
The acting chair of the committee, Senator Connie Leyva, imposed a two-minute limit on witnesses. I was one of the two witnesses opposing the bill, but in two minutes it was not possible to explain that the bill violates due process. There are a dozen precedents that when an election law restricts political opportunity for minor parties or independent candidates, it cannot take effect in time for an upcoming election, if that election is fairly close in time. One of the best precedents is the January 7, 2014 decision of a U.S. District Court in Ohio, Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, s.d. The Westlaw cite is WL 11515569. In September 2013, the Ohio legislature passed a bill that removed all four of the state’s qualified minor parties from the ballot and said they could not be on in 2014 unless they submitted a petition of 1% of the last vote cast. The due date for that petition was July 2014. The U.S. District Court upheld the constitutionality of the new restriction, but said it could not be imposed for the 2014 election.
SB 696 will probably be signed into law in the third week of September, and it will take effect immediately upon being signed by the Governor. That leaves the American Independent Party with little more than a month to choose a new name. The party has no state convention planned for te remainder of the year.
The chair’s decision to impose a two-minute limit on all testimony was arbitrary and unnecessary, because the committee was only hearing two bills on September 12, and the other bill attracted few witnesses.
Supporters of an initiative in Alaska that would impose a top-four system, and also tighten campaign finance laws, filed a lawsuit in state court on September 5, seeking a court decision that their proposed initiative does not violate the single-subject rule. The Alaska elections division had ruled that the proposed initiative violates the single subject rule, and therefore even if the group gathered enough signatures, it would be invalid.
The Alaska elections division said that campaign finance is a different subject than a top-four system. The proponents say both topics relate to elections, so they are a single subject.
The top-four system would end the ability of parties in Alaska to have nominees (except for president). Instead, all candidates for congress and partisan state office would run in the August primary, and then only the top four could be in the election itself.
The lawsuit is Alaskans for Better Elections v Meyer, in Superior Court, 3rd district, in Anchorage.
On September 11, the Alabama Secretary of State filed his answer in U.S. District Court in Libertarian Party of Alabama v Merrill, m.d., 2:19cv-69. This is the case in which the Libertarian Party challenges the state law that says the qualified parties get a free list of the registered voters, but unqualified parties (even those that are petitioning) must pay $34,000 for the list.
The answer contains a remark that suggests if the state loses the lawsuit, it might repeal the existing law that allows the qualified parties to get a free copy of the list. The law also lets any incumbent legislator have a free list of the voters in his or her district; presumably the legislature would not repeal that provision.
On September 11, SB 212 passed the legislature. It now goes to the Governor. It lets non-charter cities and counties use ranked choice voting for elections for their own officers. Currently only charter cities and counties can do that. Thanks to Kevin Sabo for this news.