New Jersey Democratic Congressional Candidate Benefits from March 31 Ruling that Struck Down New Jersey Residency Requirement for Circulators

Posted on by April 9, 2014
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As already noted, on March 31, a New Jersey Superior Court Judge struck down New Jersey’s law that won’t let petitioners work outside their own district. On April 8, Democratic congressional candidate Janice Kovach benefited from that decision, when an Administrative Law Judge restored her to the June 3 ballot. Kovach, the only Democrat running in the Seventh District, had initially been rejected because she was told she didn’t have at least 200 valid signatures of registered Democrats. She did have enough valid signatures, but some of them had been rejected because one of her circulators doesn’t live in the district.

The Administrative Law Judge who put Kovach back on the ballot seems to have based the decision on Kovach’s argument that Kovach herself, not the out-of-district circulator, co-circulated the petition. See this story. Thanks to William Fenwick for this news.

In Special Election, Independent Elected to Arlington, Virginia, County Board

Posted on by April 9, 2014
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On April 8, Arlington County, Virginia, held a special election to fill a vacant seat on the County Board. Independent candidate John Vihstadt won with an absolute majority, even though there were four candidates on the ballot. This is the first time since 1999 that any Democratic nominee ran and failed to win election to this office. Arlington County has a population of 207,627 and is directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The county has five board members. All seats are elected at-large. Although this is a partisan office, Virginia does not print party labels on general election ballots for county partisan office. Here is a link to the unofficial election returns. Here is a story about the outcome. Although the story says Vihstadt is a Republican, Virginia does not have registration by party. Because Vihstadt qualified for the ballot under the independent candidate procedures, and was not nominated by the Republican Party, that statement in the story is somewhat misleading. Thanks to Brandon Payne for the link.

Elected Working Families Party Office-Holder Leaves Party Over Party’s Cross-Endorsement of Democratic Governor of Connecticut

Posted on by April 8, 2014
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In this letter, Maria Pereira, who was elected to the Bridgeport, Connecticut School Board as a Working Families Party nominee in 2009, resigns her office within the Working Families Party. She objects to the party’s cross-endorsement of Democratic Governor Dan Malloy, who is running for re-election this year.

Two of the Three Republicans Running in Primary for Governor of Wyoming Have Strong Ties to Constitution Party

Posted on by April 8, 2014
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This article describes the three-way contest for the Wyoming Republican gubernatorial nomination. The three candidates are incumbent Matt Mead, Cindy Hill, and Taylor Haynes.

The Wyoming Constitution Party has strong ties to both Hill and Haynes. In April 2011, Haynes (who won 7% of the November 2010 gubernatorial vote as a write-in candidate) addressed the National Committee meeting of the Constitution Party. The article has a link to his talk at that event.

And, in 2013, the Wyoming Constitution Party led the effort to gather signatures on a referendum petition, to repeal a law that stripped Cindy Hill of most of her duties. She is the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wyoming, but in 2013 the legislature passed a bill moving most of her duties to an appointed gubernatorial appointee. The Constitution Party did not get enough valid signatures to put that law to a referendum, but it get half-way and for a while the news media assumed that petition drive would succeed. Later, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled the measure unconstitutional.