Alabama Bills to Make Ballot Access Worse

Posted on by January 15, 2018
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Alabama HB 193 and SB 164 are identical bills that would make Alabama ballot access laws even worse than they already are. They would change the independent presidential petition from 5,000 signatures to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, and move the deadline from August to March. They would also change the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from primary day (which is March in presidential years, and June in midterm years) to 90 days before the primary.

The authors are Senator Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) and Representative Artis J. Campbell (D-Livingston). The bills appear to attempt to convert Alabama to a top-two system. However, they provide that Democrats and Republicans still wouldn’t need any petition, but would get on the primary ballot by paying a filing fee, whereas all others would need a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. The bill also says that party labels would consist of “Republican”, “Democratic”, and “other proper party designation.”

The bills also say that if anyone gets a majority of the vote in the primary, that person would be elected, but the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar law in Louisiana, as applied to congressional elections, in Foster v Love in 1997.

The bills don’t change the definition of “party”, which is currently a group that polled 20% for any statewide race in a general election.

Washington State Bill to Move Presidential Primary from May to March

Posted on by January 14, 2018
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A year ago, a bill was introduced in the Washington legislature to move the presidential primary from May to the 2nd Tuesday in March. On January 12, 2018, the House State Government, Elections & Information Technology held a hearing on the bill. The committee will do some more work on the bill on January 16, Tuesday, starting at 8 a.m. This suggests the committee is likely to pass the bill. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news. Here is the analysis of the bill.

Michael Feinstein, in Fox & Hounds Blog, Makes the Case for California to Lower the Cost of Candidate Statements in Voters Guide

Posted on by January 13, 2018
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Mike Feinstein has this column in Fox & Hounds (a California politics blog) making the case that California should not charge so much money for candidates for state office to place candidate statements in the Voters Guide, which is a government publication mailed to all registered voters.

U.S. District Court Judge Keeps Paul Merritt’s Case, Concerning Censorship of Voters Pamphlet, Alive

Posted on by January 13, 2018
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In 2016, independent U.S. Senate candidate Paul Merritt sued the California Secretary of State for censoring his paid statement in the California Voters’ Handbook. The case, Merritt v Padilla, c.d., 8:16cv-606, is still in U.S. District Court. On January 10, the U.S. District Court called for a status conference on April 9, which seems to indicate that the Judge is not now ready to rule, and want further proceedings.

Merritt was an independent candidate and he said so in his statement, but the Secretary of State deleted his reference to being an independent candidate from the heading of his statement, and did not even tell him. The candidate only learned what had happened when his county election officials notified him. Still pending is the issue of whether his due process rights were violated.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Texas Redistricting Case

Posted on by January 13, 2018
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On January 12, the U.S. Supreme Court said it will hear Abbott v Perez, 17-626. This is another redistricting case, but it does not involve partisan gerrymandering. It concerns U.S. House and state legislative districts in Texas, and considers whether the current plans violate the Voting Rights Act by making it more difficult for Hispanic voters to elect Hispanic legislators.