The California Senate Judiciary Committee will hear SB 27 on Tuesday, April 2, in the early afternoon. This is the bill that says presidential primary candidates cannot be on the ballot unless they release the last five years of their income tax returns. Here is the Analysis of the bill prepared for the Committee.
Supporters of the National Popular Vote Plan will attempt to get an initiative on the Ohio ballot, that would result in Ohio joining the Pact if the voters approve. See the submission by the supporters. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
Besides Ohio, other states that have the statewide initiative process but which have not joined the Compact are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
On March 31, Ukraine held a presidential election. No one got a majority, but Volodymyr Zelensky placed first. A runoff will be held on April 21.
Zelensky has never held elective office, but he was well-known because he is an actor who played on a political drama series. In the series, he was a schoolteacher who made an extemporaneous outburst, wondering why voters constantly vote for corrupt individuals. In the fictional series, he is filmed while making that outburst, and is persuaded to run, and he wins. See this summary of the TV show, written before the actual election.
The news media has failed to tell the public that HR 1, the Democratic Party-sponsored election bill that has already passed the US House, makes it far more difficult for presidential candidates to qualify for primary season public funding. The Green Party will hold a Lobby Day on April 3 in Washington, DC, to publicize the problem. There will be speakers on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court at 3 pm, and a public meeting at Busboys and Poets, 450 K St., NW, in the evening. The speakers include Craig Holman of Public Citizen, Justin Jacoby Smith of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Howie Hawkins, who may seek the Green Party presidential nomination in 2020.
Even though North Carolina’s legislature greatly improved ballot access in late 2017, there are still some very bad ballot access laws in that state, especially for independent candidates. The petition deadline for independent candidates is in February, which is clearly unconstitutional. In 1980 the state had lost a lawsuit challenging the April petition deadline for independent candidates, and had then improved the deadline, but in early 2017 moved the deadline back to February.
Another problem is that the statewide independent petition requires far more signatures than the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party. In 2004 a federal court in North Carolina ruled that the state could not require more signatures for a statewide independent candidate than for a new party. The state corrected the problem, but then seemingly forgot about that and reinstated the problem in 2017.
A lawsuit challenging various aspects of the independent petition procedure was filed in 2017, but nothing has happened in the case since June 2018, when the State filed a motion to dismiss the case. On March 28, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a motion with the court, asking for a statement about the status of the case. The case is Leifert v North Carolina State Board of Elections, m.d., 1:17cv-147.
