On Thursday, May 10, San Jose State University student government hosted a gubernatorial debate for California. It included Delaine Eastin, considered one of the major Democratic candidates, along with gubernatorial candidates who are members of the Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties. Watch it at this link.
California is appealing the decision of a Superior Court that struck down California’s law on matching signatures on voter registration forma and mailed absentee ballots. The decision said that when election officials reject a mailed absentee ballot because the signature doesn’t appear to match that voter’s signatures on voter registration forms, the voter must be informed and given a chance to show that he or she did cast that absentee ballot.
The state also wants the decision stayed, while it appeals. See this story, which reveals that Florida, Illinois, and New Hampshire laws are similar to California’s. Thanks to Politico for the link.
The Eleventh Circuit will hold oral argument the last week of September in Wilding v Democratic National Committee, 17-14194. This is the lawsuit filed in 2016 by individuals who supported Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination and who had contributed money to the national party. They argue that the national party did not follow its own rules about neutrality in the presidential nomination contest.
As previously reported, the Maine Republican Party has filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the First Amendment’s Freedom of Association clause permits the party to decide for itself whether it wants to use ranked choice voting in its primaries. The Maine Republican Party also argues that the supporters of ranked choice voting should not be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit.
Here is the 8-page brief of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, defending its right to intervene in the case. The judge will decide in a few days whether to approve intervention. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.
On May 8, Eunice Groark died at the age of 80. In 1990 she and Lowell Weicker were elected on a joint ticket to be Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, under the party label “A Connecticut Party.” In 1994, when their terms expired, Weicker did not run for re-election. So A Connecticut Party nominated Groark for Governor. She polled 18.88% of the vote. See this story.
This was a good showing, but below the 20% needed to maintain the party’s status as a major party with its own primary. Also in the November 1994 election, A Connecticut Party nominated Joseph Lieberman for re-election to the U.S. Senate, and he polled 25.94% of the vote on the “A Connecticut Party” line. He was also the Democratic nominee and was re-elected that year.
She was the first female Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and one of the very few minor party members to hold that office during the 20th century in any state. Currently the only third party member who holds a Lieutenant Governor position is David Zuckerman, a member of the Vermont Progressive Party.
