On May 11, filing closed for candidates running for House of Commons in the United Kingdom. The number of seats is 650. This story has a list of all the candidates. The number of nominees for each of the most important parties is: Conservative 637, Labour 631, Liberal Democrat 629, Green 468, UKIP 377, Scottish National 59, Plaid Cymru 40.
The Green Party and UKIP withdrew some of their candidates in swing seats, so as to help one of the larger parties win in those districts.
The Colorado legislature adjourned on Wednesday, May 10. Among election bills passed and sent to the Governor are:
SB 305 sets out rules for the new semi-closed primary passed by the voters last year. If an independent voter chooses a party primary ballot, a public record is made of that choice.
SB 209 sets up a cure procedure for candidate petitions, if the circulator affidavit is flawed. After the candidate is notified that something is wrong with the circulator affidavit, a new one can replace the old one within five days.
HB 1088 sets up a cure procedure for candidate petitions found not to contain enough valid signatures.
On May 10, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed and amended AB 469. As originally presented, the bill shrinks the time for candidates to collect signatures in lieu of the filing fee, for Congress and state office, by 15 days; it also eliminates the ability to get more signatures after the petition has been checked. In response to the testimony of the Peace & Freedom Party representative, C. T. Weber, the committee passed the bill but amended it to lower the number of signatures needed to avoid the filing fee.
The statewide petition drops from 10,000 to 7,000; the U.S. House and State Senate petition drops from 3,000 to 2,000; the Assembly petition drops from 1,500 to 1,000. The bill is sponsored by Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) and was initiated by county election officials.
Assuming the British Columbia preliminary election returns are confirmed in a recount, the Green Party will hold the balance of power in the provincial legislature. According to this article, the Greens are likely to use their power to try to obtain proportional representation for future provincial legislative elections.
On May 11, the Texas Senate Business & Commerce Committee passed HB 25 by a vote of 7-0. The bill eliminates the straight-ticket device. It had already passed the House.
