Maine Legislature Passes Bill Making Some Ballot Access Improvements for Minor Parties

Posted on by June 13, 2017
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On June 12, the Maine legislature passed HB 1571 and sent it to the Governor. It makes some improvements for ballot access for new parties. It makes it easier for newly-qualifying parties to remain on the ballot, by giving them two elections to increase their registration to 10,000 people who will actually go to the polls and cast a vote. Also it slightly improves the deadline for a new party to get its necessary 5,000 registrants to qualify for the first time. And, it sets up a procedure to resolve any dispute as to whether the group successfully did get 5,000 registrants.

Assuming the bill is signed into law, it will still be flawed. It is fundamentally irrational to require a newly-qualifying party to have 5,000 registrants to get on, but 10,000 to remain on. If 5,000 means that the party has a modicum of support, then that is true no matter how young or old the party is. Also the new deadline, January of the election year, is still far too early to survive a constitutional challenge by some new party in the future.

The bill passed on voice votes, with apparently no opposition.

Petitioning Period Opens for New York City Primary Candidates

Posted on by June 9, 2017
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New York city holds partisan primaries for city office on September 12, 2017. Petitioning for candidates to get on a primary ballot runs from June 6 through July 13.

The Independence Party leadership already chose its favored candidate for Mayor on January 5, 2017. That choice is Paul Massey, a Republican who also plans to run in the Republican primary.

The Conservative Party leadership chose its favored candidate for Mayor on May 17. That candidate is Nicole Malliotakis, who is also running in the Republican Party primary.

The Reform Party leadership chose Sal Albanese for Mayor, earlier this month. He is a Democrat who plans to run in the Democratic primary.

Richard “Bo” Dietl, another mayoral candidate, was recently blocked from running in the Republican primary because he is not an enrolled Republican. The last time he filled out a voter registration form, he accidentally checked the boxes for both the Democratic Party and the Independence Party. On June 8, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, upheld the decision of the lower court that he is not an enrolled Republican. He had argued that because his new voter registration form was ambiguous, he should be considered to be a Republican because his previous registration form showed him to be a Republican. That case is Matter of Dietl v Board of Elections in the City of New York, 2017 NY Slip Op. 04573. Thanks to Richard Grayson for news about the Dietl lawsuit.

Maine Legislative Committee Sends Both Ranked Choice Voting Bills to the Full Legislature

Posted on by June 9, 2017
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On June 8, the Maine joint Veterans & Legislative Affairs Committee sent both bills on ranked choice voting to the Senate and the House. Maine is one of a very few states in which bills can receive votes on the floor of either house, even if the committee itself didn’t approve the bills. Apparently the vote in committee on both bills was a tie. One bill, LD 1624, would set in motion a constitutional amendment to allow ranked choice voting; and the other bill, LD 1625, would repeal it. See this story.

British Election Results

Posted on by June 9, 2017
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According to wikipedia, with one seat still unsettled, the results of the June 8 House of Commons election are: Conservative 317, Labour 261, Scottish National Party 35, Liberal Democrat 12, Democratic Unionist 10, Sinn Fein 7, Plaid Cymru 4, Green 1, one independent, and the district that elects the speaker always elects a non-partisan individual.

The popular vote shares for the parties that won at least one seat are: Conservative 42.4%; Labour 40.0%; Liberal Democrat 7.4%; Scottish National 3.0%; Green 1.6%; Democratic Unionist .9%; Sinn Fein .7%; Plaid Cymru .5%. Here is the wikipedia article; scroll down for the results.

The Conservative and Democratic Unionist Parties will cooperate with each. Together the two parties have 327 members, out of 650 seats.

Seventh Circuit Agrees with Lower Court that County Can’t Bar Some Groups from Holding Rallies on Courthouse Steps, While Letting Other Groups Hold Rallies

Posted on by June 8, 2017
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On June 8, the Seventh Circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that Tippecanoe County, Indiana, can’t bar the Higher Society from holding a rally on the county courthouse steps, because the county lets certain other groups hold meetings on those steps. The Higher Society works for legalization of marijuana. Higher Society of Indiana v Tippecanoe County, 17-1089. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.