A group of Utah citizens will try to qualify an initiative for the 2018 ballots that abolishes the caucus system for a candidate to get on a primary ballot. Instead the only way for candidates to get on a primary ballot will be by petition. See this story.
On August 17, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers approved the initiative petition that would set up a non-partisan commission to draw U.S. House and legislative district boundaries. Here is the web page of the proponents of that initiative. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the news and the link.
On August 16, New York Supreme Court Justice Lawrence H. Ecker issued a 16-page ruling in Swiller v Lecuona, 2320/17. He said that petition signatures in which the signer only wrote “W.P.” instead of “White Plains” for city are valid. He wrote “An individual who is otherwise lawfully entitled to sign a petition in support of his/her candidate of choice should not be automatically eliminated because he or she used an obvious, common sense, unequivocal manner in which he or she demonstrated residence in White Plains.” See page eleven.
The decision deals with other parts of the challenge to the petition. The petitions had been filed by some candidates running in the Democratic primary for Mayor and City Council in White Plains.
This New York Times has this op-ed by Quin Hilyer, an Alabama resident and an observer of Alabama politics and government. It predicts that Roy Moore will win the September 26 Republican run-off primary for U.S. Senate, and also the December 12, 2017 special election.
There won’t be anyone on the ballot in the general election except the Republican and Democratic nominees, because Alabama petition requirements for non-presidential office are so severe. No one has completed the Alabama 3% petition for statewide office since the deadline was moved to the date of the first primary, which happened in 2005. Alabama, Montana and New Mexico are the only states in which the non-presidential statewide independent petition requirement is higher than 2% of the last vote cast.
Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.
A U.S. District Court in New York will hear Merced v Spano, e.d. 1:16cv-3054, on December 13, 2017. This is the case that challenges New York state’s ban on out-of-state circulators. It is a Libertarian Party case, filed in 2016.
