China Independent Candidate Under House Arrest for Filing as an Independent Candidate for Local Office

Posted on by September 6, 2016
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Officials who administer elections in China have long maintained that there is no such thing as an independent candidate for public office in China. However, according to this story, Yang Tingjian insists that the election law permits them. Because he filed to run for office, he is under house arrest and cannot leave his home to campaign. The election is September 9. Election law in China does not permit political parties to exist unless they are approved by the government, although this restriction does not apply to Hong Kong.

State Court in Georgia Rules that Independent Candidate for County Office Has Enough Valid Signatures

Posted on by September 6, 2016
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On August 31, a state trial court in Georgia ruled that independent candidate Earl White has enough valid signatures to be on the ballot for Stewart County Commissioner, district 3. See this story.

Stewart County only has a population of 6,058, so the number of signatures needed by White was only 32. The dispute was over (1) whether petitions should be counted if they did not specify which county commission district the candidate is running in; (2) whether a signature is valid or invalid if the signer signs in the space reserved for printed name and then prints in the space reserved for the signature; (3) whether a signature is invalid if the signer omits his or her municipality. White won on all three points. It is somewhat likely the decision will be appealed.

White is represented by State Senator Josh McKoon, who again told the press that next year, he will introduce a bill to repeal all mandatory petitions for independent candidates. Thanks to Bryan Sells for the link.

Nebraska Legislature in 2015 Vastly Increased Petition Requirement for Independent Congressional Candidates

Posted on by September 6, 2016
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In 2015, the Nebraska legislature passed LD 874, an omnibus election law bill that vastly increased the petition requirements for independent congressional candidates, to 10% of the number of registered voters. The old requirement had been 2,000 signatures until 2007, and then 4,000 signatures between 2007 and 2015. The calculation of the number of registered voters is the total on the deadline, so an independent candidate can’t even know exactly how many signatures he or she needs until after the deadline.

The new law is obviously unconstitutional. All petition requirements in excess of 5% that have ever been challenged in court have been invalidated. This includes instances from Arkansas, Illinois, and North Carolina. There is no U.S. Senate election in Nebraska this year, but if there were, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate would need 117,802 valid signatures. Nebraska has three U.S. House seats, and this year an independent for U.S. House in the average district would need 39,267 valid signatures.

Ninth Circuit En Banc Panel Upholds Tucson’s Hybrid System of Electing Partisan City Councilmembers

Posted on by September 6, 2016
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On September 6, the Ninth Circuit issued an en banc opinion in Public Integrity Alliance v City of Tucson, 15-16142. The decision upholds Tucson’s method of electing city councilmembers. Tucson has partisan elections. In the primary, each ward nominates someone. Then all party nominees, as well as independent candidate, run at-large.

The original panel of the Ninth Circuit had voted 2-1 that this system is unconstitutional, but the city asked for a rehearing before all the active judges of the Ninth Circuit, and that en banc panel has now reversed the original Ninth Circuit opinion. Here is the 19-page opinion, which says that the system treats all voters equally and that there is nothing in the Constitution saying that party selection processes must match the system used in the election itself. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Darrell Castle Qualifies as a Declared Write-in Presidential Candidate in Texas

Posted on by September 5, 2016
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Darrell Castle, Constitution Party presidential nominee, is now a qualified write-in presidential candidate in Texas. Initially the state said his write-in declaration was late. However, Castle had sent his filing by a delivery service that provided proof of timely delivery to the Secretary of State. Castle recently submitted this evidence to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, and on September 2 he received a letter from that office, acknowledging that his filing is timely and his write-ins will be counted. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.