California Legislature Passes Bill Setting Up Green Party Internal Procedures

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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On September 10, the California legislature passed AB 477. It sets up internal operating rules for the Green Party. The Green Party has been using the Peace & Freedom internal rules ever since the Green Party qualified in 1992, because until now, the California election code only had internal rules for the four oldest parties (Republican, Democratic, American Independent, and Peace & Freedom). The election code has said that other parties should just choose one of those four. But now there are five parties with their own internal rules in the law (or there will be as soon as Governor Brown signs the bill).

This bill gives the Green Party the authority to designs its own districts for electing party officers. Each district would elect members to the “county council”, but the districts could actually be portions of counties. Here is the text of AB 477. The bill has another part that has nothing to do with the Green Party. The other part of the bill deals with voters who forgot to sign the outer envelope of their mailed ballot when they returned it to the election office. The bill gives them a chance to correct the error within eight days.

California Legislature Passes Bill for Automatic Registration, After Amending it to Protect Minor Parties

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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On September 10, the California Senate passed AB 1461 by 25-15. Later on the same day, the Assembly passed it. It provides that California adult citizens who obtain a drivers license, or a state ID card, or who renew those, or who file a change of address in connection with those two pieces of ID, will be automatically registered to vote. However if the individual says he or she does not want to be registered to vote, there will be no automatic registration.

Although such individuals will later be asked to make a choice about partisan affiliation, individuals who don’t respond will be registered with a partisan affiliation of “unknown”. Section 2265 says that for purposes of determining whether a party has enough registered voters to qualify, the percentage calculation won’t include the “unknown” voters. The law currently requires a party to have .33% of the total state registration in order to qualify or remain qualified, but when the percentage is calculated, “unknown” voters will be excluded from the denominator.

Constitution Party is Now On Ballot for President in Alaska

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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The Alaska Division of Elections has finally determined that the Constitution Party’s petition for presidential ballot status is valid. The party had submitted the petition in June. It took the state months to check the signatures because the Division of Elections has very few employees this year and they had been busy checking the signatures on an initiative petition. Thanks to J. R. Myers for this news.

Two Michigan Legislators Cease to be Members, due to Legislature’s Actions in Middle of the Night September 11

Posted on by September 11, 2015
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Early in the morning of September 11, one male Michigan state legislator resigned and one female Michigan state legislator was expelled, due to their having had an affair and then trying to cover it up. See this story. The actions of the legislature occurred between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.