On August 23, the Michigan Court of Claims ruled that a statewide initiative for marijuana legalization cannot qualify for the ballot, even though it almost certainly has enough valid signatures. Not all of the signatures were collected inside the 180-day window. See this story.
The Michigan Court of Claims is a branch of the state Appeals Court. Proponents of the initiative will appeal to the State Supreme Court. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
August 20 was the Delaware deadline for parties to finish their registration drive, to be qualified parties in Delaware. The state requires 653 registered members and the Green Party had slipped below that number earlier this year. But the party then increased its registration to 662.
The American Delta Party put on a last-minute voter registration drive, and submitted approximately 1,000 registration cards. But because Delaware does not permit members of one party to switch their registration to another party during the months before a primary, only the new voters counted. Therefore, the American Delta Party now only has 322 registered voters, not enough to qualify for the 2016 election. The Delaware primary is September 13, the last primary in the nation.
The parties that were already qualified in Delaware are Democratic, Independent, Libertarian, and Republican.
The Alaska Division of Elections has determined that both presidential petitions that were submitted recently are valid. They are for the Green Party and the independent petition for Rocky De La Fuente. The deadline was August 10 and 3,005 signatures were needed.
The qualified parties in the state are: Alaskan Independence, Democratic, Libertarian, and Republican. The Constitution Party’s presidential petition was already verified last year.
On August 25, the Alabama Secretary of State determined that all three independent presidential petitions are valid. They are for Rocky De La Fuente, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein. The deadline was August 18, and 5,000 are required.
Alabama has not had any ballot-qualified parties statewide, other than Democratic and Republican, since November 2002. All three candidates will be listed as “independent.”
On August 24, the California Senate again passed SB 1288, accepting amendments made in the Assembly. The bill now goes to the Governor. It allows all cities and counties (not just charter cities and counties) to use Instant Runoff Voting for elections for their own officers if they wish.
