The New York Times print edition for February 13 carries David Brooks’ column, which is titled “The End of the Two-Party System.” The column itself does not directly address that subject, but is instead a commentary about the state of the Republican Party and what it now appears to stand for. Thanks to Taegan Goddard for the link.
The Opelika-Auburn News, a daily newspaper in Alabama, has this story about the rules for an independent candidate to get on the ballot in that state. Alabama and New Mexico are tied for having the nation’s most restrictive petition requirement for statewide non-presidential independent candidates, 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. No one has done the Alabama statewide petition since 2000.
California elects an Insurance Commissioner on a partisan basis. Last month, Steve Poizner changed his registration from Republican to independent. He served as California’s Republican Insurance Commissioner 2006-2010. He has just announced that he will run for his old office in 2018, but this time he will be an independent candidate.
He will be handicapped by the California law that does not permit independent candidates to have the label “independent” on the ballot. Instead he must have “party preference: none.”
On February 12, Nebraska State Senator Bob Krist switched his party registration from independent to Democratic. He had filed a lawsuit on February 1 against the 10% petition requirement for non-presidential independent candidates, but it appears that lawsuit will now be dismissed. He plans to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor, instead of being an independent candidate for Governor. Thanks to Mark Elworth for this news.
On February 12, a trial started in Lopez v Abbott, s.d., 2:16cv-303. This is a civil rights election law case filed in July 2016, alleging that the Texas system for electing State Supreme Court Justices, and also Justices of the Court of Criminal Appeals, makes it almost impossible for hispanics to be elected. The lawsuit argues that these elections should not be statewide, but that judges should be elected from single-member districts.
These elections are partisan and Republicans have won all of them since 1994. The trial is expected to last a full week. If the plaintiffs win, Texas judicial elections would not longer be a means for minor parties to retain their places on the ballot, because only statewide races count for that purpose.
