On July 18, both bills that the California legislature has passed, relating to the presidential primaries, were sent to Governor Gavin Newsom. SB 27 requires disclosure of federal income tax returns for candidates who want to appear on a presidential primary ballot. SB 505 makes it easier for candidates to get on a presidential primary ballot.
Governor Newsom has until July 30 to act on these two bills.
California law professor Rex Grady here writes that SB 27, the bill to require presidential primary candidates to reveal their tax returns or be omitted from the presidential primary ballots, is not constitutional. The op-ed is in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, which is one of the largest newspapers in the State Senate district of Mike McGuire, the sponsor of SB 27.
Grady only mentions the U.S. Constitution. He and other commentators never seem to remember the California Constitution, which says that the Secretary of State shall put all “recognized” candidates on the presidential primary ballots. Article II, sec. 5(a).
California Governor Gavin Newsom has twelve days to act on the bill. The twelve-day period starts when the legislature sends the bill to him. Although the bill has passed, it still hasn’t been sent to the Governor.
UPDATE: Dan Walters, a well-known commentator and reporter for California government, has this article in Cal Matters, predicting that Governor Newsom will sign the bill, but that it will be held unconstitutional.
Kansas has released new registration data, for active voters. The numbers are: Republican 762,416; Democratic 419,307; Libertarian 15,694; independent and other 487,003.
The percentages are: Republican 45.26%; Democratic 24.89%; Libertarian .93%; independent and other 28.91%.
The percentages just prior to the November 2018 election were: Republican 45.93%; Democratic 25.15%; Libertarian .90%; independent and other 28.02%.
The new figures are not on the Kansas Secretary of state’s webpage. Kansas seldom posts voter registration data, and when it does, it only posts the number of active combined with inactive voters, with no ability to separate the two from each other. Thanks to Rod Hodgkinson for obtaining the new data.
HR 51, the bill to make the District of Columbia a state, now has 216 co-sponsors in addition to the sponsor, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. A majority of the House would be 218 members.
The Alaska Division of Elections has redesigned the voter registration form. Formerly it listed all the qualified parties, with a checkbox. It even listed the unqualified parties that had told the state they are trying to accumulate registrations.
But, as the list of unqualified parties grew longer, the state decided to remove the names of all parties from the front of the form. Now every applicant must write-in whichever party he or she wishes. Here is the form. Scroll down to box 13.
The back of the form still lists all the qualified parties, and all the unqualified parties that are seeking registrations. Thanks to Scott Kohlhaas for this news.
