The News-Gazette of Champaign-Urbana has this story about Illinois ballot access restrictions.
Reply
On Saturday, April 26, the Libertarian Parties of New York and Kansas held nominating conventions. The results of each convention have been covered. See here for a story in the Wichita Eagle about the Kansas convention, and here for a story in the Albany Times Union about the New York convention. Thanks to Warren Redlich for the New York link.
On April 23, a Superior Court in Essex County, New Jersey, ruled that no law forbids a member of a county Election Board from endorsing a candidate. Here is a link to the 4-page decision in Baraka v Adubato, 2170-14. The decision points out that in New Jersey, parties appoint members to county election boards, so there is no expectation that a board member will be politically neutral. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On April 14, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a four-page decision in Schaefer v The Eighth Judicial District Court, 65361, upholding Nevada election law that requires candidates for Controller to have lived in the state for two years before filing. Use this link to read the decision. Under “docket entries”, click on document 14-11950 (that number is found at the far right-hand column in the line for April 14).
Although the plaintiff, Michael Schaefer, had held a continuous residence in Nevada for many years, the lower court found that he had been domiciled in California or Maryland during most of the preceding two years. The lower court, and the State Supreme Court, also ruled that the two-year residency requirement does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
A handful of states, including California, send pamphlets to all registered voters in advance of an election that include information about candidates for state office. The California Official Voter Information Guide has been mailed to all registered voters. Surprisingly, 40% of the candidates for one of the seven partisan statewide offices did not submit a statement for this booklet. Candidates must pay $25 per word for their statements, but that is a bargain, considering that the booklet is send to approximately 17,700,000 voters.
Some incumbents who are running for re-election did not submit a statement: Jerry Brown for Governor, Gavin Newson for Lieutenant Governor, and Kamala Harris for Attorney General. Also, some major party candidates who are thought likely to either win, or at least place second, also did not submit a statement: John A. Perez (current speaker of the Assembly) for Controller, Greg Conlon (the only Republican for Treasurer), Phil Wyman (the Republican for Attorney General who has the most name recognition of any Republican running for that office).
All the minor party candidates for statewide office submitted candidate statements, except for Jena Goodman, the Green running for Lieutenant Governor. To read the candidate statements, use this link.