North Carolina Legislature Moves Independent Candidate Petition Deadline from June to April

Posted on by March 10, 2017
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The North Carolina bill that converts elections for local judicial elections from non-partisan to partisan elections, also changes the deadline for all independent candidates (for all office, even President) from June to April. The two subjects of whether judicial elections should be partisan, and what the deadline should be for independent candidates for all office, are not really related to each other. But it is common for legislatures to alter two different subjects in a single bill.

It is not known what caused the legislature to change the petition deadline for independent candidates. However, the deadline change would be held unconstitutional, because in 1980 a U.S. District Court struck down North Carolina’s independent petition deadline for independent candidates. By coincidence, the deadline struck down in 1980 was April 25, and under the current HB 100, the 2018 deadline for independent candidates would also be April 25. The 1980 decision was Greaves v North Carolina State Board of Elections, 508 F Supp 78 (e.d.).

April petition deadlines for independent candidates for president are clearly unconstitutional under Anderson v Celebrezze. Other states in which April petition deadlines (for independent candidates or new parties) have been declared unconstitutional are Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Utah.

The North Carolina bill, HB 100, can be read here. It has already passed the legislature. The Governor may veto it, but the legislature has enough Republicans in both houses to override his veto. The date of the 2018 primary is May 8.

Report Says Arnold Schwarzenegger is Thinking of Running for U.S. Senate in 2018 as an Independent

Posted on by March 9, 2017
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This story says Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering running for U.S. Senate in 2018 as an independent. If he does that, his own top-two law will not permit him to have the ballot label “independent”. The law, which he backed with all his resources, says independents are on the ballot as “party preference: none.”

The California U.S. Senate seat up in 2018 is held by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was born in 1933 and will therefore be age 85 in 2018. She has not said whether she intends to run for re-election in 2018 or not.

U.S. District Court Strikes Down Guam Special Voter Registration List for Theoretical Future Vote on Status of Guam

Posted on by March 9, 2017
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Guam has a law that says Guam residents who became citizens by a particular act of Congress in 1950, and their descendants, are entitled to register to vote in any future plebiscite on the future political status of Guam. This special list of registered voters is separate from the general list. The law also says no such plebiscite will be held until a large percentage of eligible residents actually register for this election.

A resident of Guam who doesn’t meet the qualifications for the special list sued in U.S. District Court in 2011, seeking to invalidate the special registration list. Guam tried to defend the law by saying the lawsuit isn’t ripe, because the proportion of eligible people who have actually signed up for the special list is far too low, and therefore any such future election, and future use of the special registration list, is in the far future.

The U.S. District Court initially agreed with the Guam government, but then the Ninth Circuit ruled the case is ripe, and sent it back. On March 8, the U.S. District Court struck down the law setting up the special registration list. The case is Davis v Guam Election Commission, 1:11cv-35. The basis for the decision is the Fifteenth Amendment, which does not permit any voting restriction based on race. Approximately 99% of the Guam residents who gained citizenship by a special act of Congress in 1950 were native Chamorros, and the law, by limiting the special registration list to those individuals and their descendants, was found by the court to be a racial test.