Another Poll Suggests California November 2016 Ballot Will Have Only Two Democrats for U.S. Senate

Posted on by April 9, 2016
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On April 8, the Field Poll released a new poll for the June 2016 primary election in California for U.S. Senate. It shows: Kamala Harris 27%; Loretta Sanchez 14%; Ron Unz 5%; Tom Del Beccaro 4%; Duf Sundheim 2%; undecided or other 49%. Harris and Sanchez are Democrats; the other three are Republicans.

There are 34 candidates on the ballot, but the Polling Company did not mention the other choices to respondents. The race has seven Democrats, twelve Republicans, two Libertarians, one Green, one Peace & Freedom Party member, and eleven candidates who are either registered as independents or as members of unqualified parties. Current law does not allow the ballot to mention the party affiliations of the candidates from unqualified parties. A lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on whether the members of unqualified parties should have their party label on the ballot.

Maine Court Says State Cannot Invalidate Petitions because the Notary’s Signature on the Petitions isn’t Similar to Notary’s Signatures on File

Posted on by April 9, 2016
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On April 8, a Maine state court made it very likely that an initiative to legalize marijuana will be on the November 2016 ballot. Proponents needed 61,123 valid signatures and submitted 99,229 raw signatures. Last month the Secretary of State had ruled that 31,338 signatures are invalid because the signature of the Notary Public who notarized those sheets doesn’t resemble that Notary’s signature on file with the state (the state, of course, has a list of all notaries and that list includes the signature of the notary).

The decision is 26 pages long. Birks v Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, Portland Business and Consumer Court, BCD-AP-16-04. State law says the Notary’s signature must be “in the same form as indicated on the notary public’s commission.” The decision says if that law is interpreted to mean that the notary’s signature on petition sheets must closely resemble the notary’s signature on the commission, then it would be unconstitutional. The decision interprets the state law not to mean what the Secretary of State felt it meant. The decision explains why individuals frequently sign their names under difficult conditions and it is not reasonable to expect that the signature of an individual always looks the same. Thanks to Walker Chandler for this news.

Virginia Governor Vetoes Bill to Put Party Labels on Ballot for Partisan County and City Offices

Posted on by April 8, 2016
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Many counties and cities in Virginia have partisan elections for their own officers. Yet Virginia law says party labels for those partisan elections cannot appear on general election ballots. On April 8, Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, vetoed SB 767, a bill that would have put party labels on the November ballot for those offices. See this story.

It is rare in the United States for governments to hold partisan primaries, or provide for party nominating conventions, for certain offices, but keep the party labels off the November ballot. Besides local elections in Virginia, other examples are judicial elections in Michigan and Ohio.