On April 8, the Tennessee legislature passed HB 2410, which says, “Any representative of the United Nations appearing without a treaty ratified by the United States senate, shall not monitor elections in this state. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.”
On April 7, the Tennessee legislature passed SB 1466. It makes two small 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% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2.5%. The vote test for a county party to remain ballot-qualified falls from 20% to 5%.
Also, the bill says that when Tennessee holds a special election, a previously unqualified party can get on the ballot for that special election if it submits a petition of 2.5% of the last gubernatorial election within that district. Previously, there was no procedure for an unqualified party to get on the ballot in a special election. The procedure established by SB 1466 is wildly impractical. If Tennessee were to hold a special congressional election, the new formula would require approximately 4,500 valid signatures in the typical district, and the petitioning period would probably be only a few weeks.
On April 11, Tennessee officials filed a notice of appeal in the lawsuit Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett. The U.S. District Court had struck down two election laws: (1) the requirement that new parties sign an oath that they don’t advocate the overthrow of the government; (2) that new parties must meet the 5% vote test in their first election, but already qualified-parties only need to meet the vote test every two elections.
The practical effect of the decision, which came out on March 14, was to put the Green Party and the Constitution Party on the ballot for 2014. They had appeared on the ballot for the first time in 2012, but the decision says they are entitled to two tries to meet the 5% vote test.
On April 10, bills were introduced in both houses of Congress, to permit ex-felons to vote in federal elections. The Senate bill is S2235 and the main sponsor is Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland). The House bill doesn’t have a bill number yet, and is introduced by Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan). Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
On April 11, Delaware state officials said they will appeal Delaware Strong Families v Biden. This is the case in which the U.S. District Court struck down a Delaware law, requiring a group that spends at least $500 on disseminating information about candidates in state elections to disclose the names of everyone who gives that group at least $100.
