Wichita Eagle Endorses Bill that Improves Ballot Access in Special Congressional Elections

Posted on by January 7, 2017
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Phillip Brownlee, opinion page editor of the Wichita Eagle, here recommends that the legislature pass HB 2017, the bill that eases ballot access in special U.S. House elections. His column puts more emphasis on the part of the bill that modernizes schedules for special elections, but the bottom does mention the part of the bill that eases the petition burdens on independent candidates. The bill lowers the petition requirement from 4% of the number of registered voters (approximately 17,000 signatures) to exactly 1,000 signatures.

The column does not mention the other ballot access improvement, to let qualified minor parties nominate in such elections with no petition needed. That part of the bill makes it easy for the Libertarian Party to run someone.

U.S. Intelligence Agencies Criticize Russia Today TV for Hosting Minor-Party Presidential Debates

Posted on by January 6, 2017
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Intelligence agencies of the United States have just published a booklet, “Intelligence Community Assessment”, which sets forth evidence that Russia, and the television network Russia Today (RT), intervened in the United States presidential elections of 2012 and 2016. The publication is from the “Intelligence Community”, including the CIA, FBI, and NSA. Here is a link to the booklet.

Annex A, in the second half of the report, on page six, says, “In an effort to highlight the alleged ‘lack of democracy’ in the United States, RT broadcast, hosted, and advertised third-party candidate debates and ran reporting supportive of the political agenda of these candidates. The RT hosts asserted that the U.S. two-party system does not represent the views of at least one-third of the population and is a ‘sham.'”

In 2012 RT carried the general election presidential debate between Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, Virgil Goode, and Rocky Anderson. In 2016, during the primary season in the first half of the year, RT broadcast a debate between various candidates for the Green Party nomination. It also carried a debate between some of the candidates for the Libertarian nomination. Thanks to antiwar.com for the link. See this antiwar commentary about the report.

Congress Accepts All Electoral Votes as Cast, Including the Seven Votes for Persons Other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

Posted on by January 6, 2017
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On January 6, Congress tallied the electoral votes that had been cast in state capitols on December 19. Congress accepted all the votes as cast, including the seven votes cast for persons other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. See this story. There had been some talk that some members of Congress might try to object to the votes cast for persons other than Trump and Clinton.

Seven individuals received electoral college votes for president, the most since 1796.

2016 had more electoral college votes (for president) for persons who had not won the election in that state, in all U.S. history.

Meanwhile, lawsuits over whether electors have a constitutional right to vote for the person of their choice are pending in U.S. District Courts in California, Colorado, and Washington. There is also a Minnesota case pending in the Eighth Circuit, Abdurrahman v Dayton, 16-4551. It had been filed by Democratic elector Muhammad Abdurrahman on December 19, 2016, the very day the electoral college was meeting. The U.S. District Court dismissed the case because of laches, because it was filed so late. The U.S. District Court order of December 23 said that the cases in the other states had all been filed before the electoral college met, which the judge said is what Abdurrahman should have done.

Kansas Bill to Improve Ballot Access in Special U.S. House Elections

Posted on by January 6, 2017
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Kansas Representative Keith Esau (R-Olathe) has introduced HB 2017, to vastly improve ballot access in Kansas special U.S. House elections. Current law does not make it possible for a qualified convention party to enter a nominee in such elections, and requires independent candidates to submit approximately 17,000 valid signatures. Here is the bill’s text.

The bill makes it possible for all qualified parties to nominate someone by convention, and lowers the independent petition to exactly 1,000 signatures. The bill has a hearing January 10 in the House Elections Committee. Thanks to Rob Hodgkinson for this news.