Congressional Bill Would Raise Postal Rates for Political Parties

Posted on by August 5, 2017
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The Postal Service Reform Act of 2017, HB 756, would raise postage rates for political parties that are recognized by the Federal Election Commission as “national committees” and “state committees.” The bill passed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on March 16, 2017. It had been introduced on January 31, 2017, by Congressman Jason Chaffetz, and has seven Republican co-sponsors and eight Democratic co-sponsors.

The bill makes many other changes as well. Here is a summary of the bill’s provisions.

Ever since 1976, political parties have enjoyed the ability to send postal mail at the non-profit rates. Originally only the Democratic and Republican Parties could use non-profit rates, but a U.S. District Court ruling in 1980, Greenburg v Bolger, expanded that to all parties recognized as national committees.

Utah Won’t Appeal Court Decision on Early Deadline for New Parties in Special Elections

Posted on by August 4, 2017
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As already noted, on August 2, a U.S. District Court struck down Utah procedures that didn’t permit a new party to get on the ballot in a special U.S. House election, unless the party had already been ballot-qualified when the election was called. According to this story, the state won’t appeal.

The decision will be somewhat helpful in other cases against early petition deadlines for new parties, both in special elections and also regular elections. It may also help persuade the Utah legislature that the petition deadline for new parties in regular elections (November 30 of the year before the election) is flawed and ought to be eased. The 2017 legislature moved that deadline from February of an election year, back to the year before the election. That Utah change was one of only two restrictive ballot access bills that passed in any state in 2017. The other bill that passed was a North Carolina bill that moved the independent petition deadline from June to April. Other restrictive bills that were introduced in 2017, but which failed to pass, were in Alaska, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, and New York.

McIntire, Iowa, Holds Election that Attracts Zero Voters

Posted on by August 4, 2017
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On August 1, McIntire, Iowa, held a special election for two town ballot questions. Although the town has 70 registered voters, not one single voter voted. The polling place officials couldn’t vote in that election because they don’t live in McIntire. The ballot asked voters if they want to extend the terms of town council members from two years to four years. See this story.

Yahoo News Story Says 2017 Presidential Election in France Has Some U.S. Political Professionals More Interested in Advancing Independent Candidates

Posted on by August 4, 2017
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This story by Jon Ward, for Yahoo News, says some U.S. political professionals are more interested now than in the past in the idea that independent candidates can win in the U.S. The story says they are inspired by the 2017 elections in France, where the nominee of a very new party was elected President. A few months later that same new party won a majority in the French parliament.

Lawsuit Filed to Overturn Connecticut Restriction on Public Funding

Posted on by August 4, 2017
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Connecticut has public funding for candidates for Governor and state legislature. On August 2, Joseph P. Ganim, a candidate for Governor in 2018 and the incumbent mayor of Bridgeport, filed a federal lawsuit to overturn the law that denies public funding if the candidate was ever convicted of certain kinds of felony. Ganim v Brandi, 3:17cv-1303.

Ganim was elected Mayor of Bridgeport in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 2001. In 2003 he was convicted of felonies relating to corruption. He served seven years in prison, and was released in 2010. In 2015 he made a political comeback, running for Mayor of Bridgeport again and defeating the incumbent in the Democratic primary. Here is his Complaint. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Michael Shea, an Obama appointee. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for this news.