On November 4, 2014, the Constitution Party polled 35% of the vote in a countywide race in Marshall County, Alabama. Alabama law says if a party polls 20% for any countywide partisan position, it becomes ballot-qualified in that county, so that it can nominate candidates for county office without petitioning.

Alabama law, section 17-4-33(10), says, “Following each state and county election, the Secretary of State shall provide on electronic copy of the computerized voter list free of charge to each political party that satisfied the ballot access requirements for that election. The electronic copy of the computerized voter list shall be provided within 30 days of the certification of the election or upon the completion of the election vote history update following the election, whichever comes first.” The Constitution Party applied for a free list of the registered voters of Marshall County shortly after the election, but it hasn’t received it yet.

The law that says qualified parties may receive a free list of the registered voters was passed in 2006. The original 2006 law said the list is available only to statewide qualified parties. But in 2010, the law was amended and the amendment deleted the statewide requirement. Therefore, the Constitution Party is optimistic that it will receive the list.

The state charges $29,000 for groups, other than qualified political parties, for the statewide list. Shawn Harmon, who is a vendor of registration lists, explains at emerges.com how the major parties in Alabama profit from obtaining the list and selling it. Use this link to his story of December 4. Also use this link to see his update of December 10, which summarizes the legal precedents that when states give a free list of the registered voters to qualified parties, they must also give it to active unqualified parties. This is based on a U.S. Supreme Court summary affirmance.

On December 9, the text of the congressional bill that would fund the federal government was released. It contains a surprise provision that would make it possible for individuals to give substantially more money to national committees of political parties than the current law allows. Currently individuals cannot give more than $32,400 per year to the national committee of a political party.

The budget rider would allow much larger contributions, but only if the money were donated for one of three purposes: (1) to defray expenses of national conventions; (2) to defray expenses incurred with respect to the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more headquarters buildings of the party or to repay loans the proceeds of which were used to defray such expenses, or otherwise to restore funds used to defray such expenses (including expenses for obligations incurred during the 2-year period which ends on the date of the enactment of this paragraph); (3) to defray expenses incurred with respect to the preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings.

Although many news stories about this bill imply that the bill only applies to the Democratic and Republican National Committees, the bill actually applies to all political parties recognized by the Federal Election Commission as “national committees.” They include the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Socialist, Natural Law, and Reform Parties.

The bill is expected to pass Congress this week. Thanks to Dan Tokaji for the link.

Hobbs, New Mexico, held an election on December 9, for the sole purpose of letting voters decide whether to require voters at the polls to show government photo-ID. It passed 78%-22%. See this story. The measure says the city will pay the costs of obtaining such ID for residents who don’t have it. The measure only impacts elections for city office.

The measure’s path to the Hobbs ballot was long and complicated. The city allows initiatives to change city ordinances, and proponents of photo-ID were told how many signatures they needed. They obtained those signatures, but then it was discovered that the measure could not be a legitimate ordinance, because it changed the city charter. Therefore, the petition was invalid. The city council then voted to put the measure on the ballot.

Hobbs is the county seat and largest town in Lea County, in southeast New Mexico.