According to this story, Michael Bloomberg will decide within the next two weeks whether to run for President. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
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The New York Assembly Election Law Committee will hold a hearing on AB 3218 on Wednesday, March 9, at 9 a.m. The bill removes party emblems (also called logos) from the November ballot. Election officials in New York know that their state has general election ballots that are very confusing and difficult to read, but when they try to design better ballots, they are hampered by various election laws that make it difficult to design a clear ballot. One of those laws is the requirement that each candidate have a tiny party emblem next to his or her name. Also the party emblem must be printed at the top of each party column. Removing the emblems will give more flexibility for ballot redesign.
The sponsors of AB 3218 are three Democrats, Assembly members Patricia Fahy, Thomas Abinanti, and David Buchwald. An identical bill in the Senate, SB 3953, is sponsored by Republican Senator Richard Funke. A similar bill passed the Assembly in 2014 but did not advance in the State Senate.
According to this story, John Kasich submitted 2,184 signatures to be on the Pennsylvania Republican primary ballot, and the legal requirement is 2,000. A supporter of Marco Rubio has challenged the Kasich petition. The hearing on the challenge is set for Wednesday, March 9, at 1:30 p.m.
Also, this story says Ted Cruz’s Pennsylvania ballot position is also under challenge, both for petition validity and on presidential qualifications. The Cruz challenges will be heard Thursday, March 10.
According to this story, there is a lawsuit pending in a District of Columbia trial court that alleges the D.C. Board of Elections is improperly constituted, and therefore it is without authority to make any decisions. The lawsuit was started by opponents of an initiative. The opponents say the initiative should not be on the ballot because the Board was without authority to clear the initiative for circulation.
In 2013, the Virginia legislature passed HB 1346, to assist independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties. Virginia law for general election petitions for president requires that candidates for presidential elector be listed on the petition, and one must live in each U.S. House district.
The bill lets the presidential candidates substitute new presidential elector candidates, in case the original presidential elector candidates turn out to be unqualified, or unless they die. This is especially useful in years when the U.S. House district boundaries are still unsettled during the petitioning period. Before the law was passed, presidential candidates hesitated to petition in Virginia early in the election year, because they were afraid the boundaries of the House districts might change later, and if some of the original candidates for elector listed on the petition found themselves in different districts, the petition would be invalid. Thanks to Bob Bastress for this news.