“The Week”, which has both British and American editions, has this story imagining a 2016 general election presidential debate between Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, Mike Bloomberg as an independent, and Gary Johnson as the Libertarian nominee.
Indiana State Representative Jeff Ellington (R-Bloomington) says next year he will introduce a bill to reduce the number of signatures, and the distribution requirement, for candidates to get on the primary ballot for President, Governor, and U.S. Senator (primary candidates for other office in Indiana don’t need any petitions). See this story.
As noted earlier, Connecticut election officials maintain that Shawn Wilmoth can’t circulate a presidential primary petition in Connecticut, because he doesn’t live in Connecticut. Wilmoth is seeking a federal court order that would permit him to work.
Connecticut says he can’t be allowed to circulate for a Democratic presidential candidate in Connecticut because he is not a registered Democrat in Connecticut. Then Connecticut says that this prohibition is needed to protect the Connecticut Democratic Party from outsiders. But Wilmoth’s reply brief points out that he is a member of the Democratic Party, and there can’t be any threat to the Connecticut Democratic Party if Democrats from outside Connecticut circulate petitions for a Democratic candidate for President.
Wilmoth lives in Michigan, where voter registration forms don’t ask applicants to choose a party. But the Michigan Democratic Party has its own methods for individuals to join the party, and Wilmoth has in that way shown he is a Democrat. Here is Wilmoth’s Reply brief.
California initiative proponents start the process by submitting a proposed initiative to the Attorney General, who then writes a title for it. Then the proponents can put the title on their petitions and start collecting signatures. Sometimes the Attorney General’s office is so backlogged with proposed initiatives, it takes a few weeks or even months for them to do this work.
According to this story, a Superior Court Judge ruled that a proposed initiative, that had already been through the process, has been altered so much since then that it must start all over again. That, in turn, will delay the signature-gathering process for that initiative.
The Hawaii Elections Department has checked the Constitution Party petition and finds that it has enough valid signatures. The Constitution Party had last been on the ballot in that state in 2008.
