Montana State Court Removes One of Two Candidates for Supreme Court Justice

Posted on by April 25, 2014
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On April 26, a Montana state trial court removed Lawrence Van Dyke from the June 3 primary ballot, for the non-partisan election for Supreme Court Justice. As a result, only one candidate for that office, the incumbent, remains on the ballot. See this story. It is expected that Van Dyke will appeal to the State Supreme Court.

The basis for the decision is that the Montana Constitution requires candidates for judge to have been a active member of the Montana bar for the preceding five years. Van Dyke has been a member of the Montana bar continuously, but during part of the recent five-year period, he was on inactive status. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.

Mason-Dixon Poll for Florida Gubernatorial Race Includes Libertarian

Posted on by April 25, 2014
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On April 25, Mason-Dixon Polls released a poll for the Florida gubernatorial race that included Adrian Wyllie, the likely Libertarian nominee. The results: Republican incumbent Rick Scott 42%, likely Democratic nominee Charlie Crist 42%, Wyllie 4%, undecided 12%. See this story.

If Wyllie does get 4%, that would be the highest share of the vote for anyone running for Governor of Florida outside the two major parties since 1916, when the Prohibition Party nominee, Sidney J. Catts, won the general election. Thanks to Austin Cassidy for the link.

California Gubernatorial Poll for All Fifteen Candidates on Ballot

Posted on by April 25, 2014
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Earlier this month, Clear Path Strategies conducted a poll for the June 3 California gubernatorial primary. This was not a telephone poll. Instead, all respondents were shown a list of all fifteen candidates on the ballot, which includes their party membership and their occupation. See this San Francisco Chronicle story for the results (the results for each candidate are near the bottom of the story).

Luis Rodriguez, Green Party candidate, is at 2.6%. Cindy Sheehan, Peace & Freedom Party candidate, is at 2.3%. Robert Newman, an independent who has been endorsed by the Constitution Party, is at 3.1%.

Jerry Brown is at 45.6% and Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly is second with 18.3%.

Ohio Supreme Court Adds a Democrat to the May 6 Primary Ballot Even Though Early Voting Has Already Started

Posted on by April 25, 2014
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On April 21, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Zachary Scott’s name should be added to the Democratic Party primary ballot, even though some ballots had already been printed and some voters have already voted. The primary is May 6. Scott is running for Democratic State Central Committee. Here is the opinion in State ex rel Scott v Franklin County Board of Elections, 2014-1685.

Scott needed five valid signatures. He submitted nine signatures. The Board invalidated five signatures. One signature was invalidated because the voter had printed her name on the signature line on her voter registration form, but on the petition, she signed in cursive writing. The Franklin County Board of Elections had held a hearing and this particular voter testified that she was the signer. Nevertheless, the Board disqualified her signature because it felt that since she had printed her name when she registered to vote, she had an obligation to print her name on the petition. The Supreme Court unanimously rejected that reasoning.

Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Making Minor Ballot Access Improvements

Posted on by April 24, 2014
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On April 22, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed SB 1466. It makes three ballot access improvements. For a newly-qualifying party that just wants to be on the ballot in a single county, the petition is lowered from 5% to 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. The vote test for a county party to remain on the ballot is lowered from 20% to 5%.

Finally, in a special election, a newly-qualifying party can get on with a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote within that district. Previously, there was nothing a new party could do to get on the ballot in a special election. This new procedure is wildly impractical, because generally in special elections, the time to collect signatures is short. A special U.S. House election would require the collection of approximately 4,500 valid signatures. This change in the law was caused by the Libertarian Party lawsuit last year concerning a special legislative election, in which a U.S. District Court put the Libertarian Party on the ballot in that special election.