Utah Bill to Hold Presidential Primary Earlier than Any Other State

Posted on by March 4, 2014
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On March 4, the Utah House Committee on Political Subdivisions passed HB 410. This bill, introduced by Representative Jon Cox (R-Ephraim) would instruct the Lieutenant Governor (who functions as the head of Utah election administration) to set the date of the presidential primary earlier than any other state’s presidential primary or caucus.

The bill also permits the presidential primary to be conducted as an on-line primary. This would be cheaper than an ordinary public election, and also provide for flexibility when the state sets the date. New Hampshire is famous for not setting the date of its presidential primary until shortly before the actual date of the primary, and has a similar law, mandating that it hold the first primary. Thanks to Josh Putnam of FrontloadingHQ for this news.

Arkansas Trial Court Strikes Down Six Restrictions Relating to Initiative Petitions

Posted on by March 4, 2014
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On February 28, an Arkansas Circuit Court declared that six new restrictions on the petitioning process that relate to initiatives and referenda violate the State Constitution. The State Constitution says, “No law shall be passed…in any manner interfering with the freedom of the people in procuring petitions.” Here is the eleven-page opinion. The case is Spencer v Martin, Pulaski County, cv-13-4020. The restrictions had been passed in 2013.

The laws held to violate the State Constitution are: (1) the signer must fill out all blanks himself or herself, which includes printed name, signature, address, birth date, and date of signing; (2) when the sponsors submit a batch of signatures, the petitioning process must stop until the signatures are checked, and then it can start again; (3) the sponsor must submit a list of all paid circulators in advance, with the address of the circulator, and a picture of each petitioner that was taken less than 90 days ago; (4) an entire sheet is invalid if voters from two different counties signed that petition, unless all the signatures from residents of one of those counties are lined out; (5) the law that says a “paid circulator” means a circulator who was given anything of value.

Some of these laws might have been upheld if they weren’t so vague. There are many restrictions on paid circulators that are not applied to volunteer circulators, but plaintiffs argued that under the definition of “paid circulator”, even a volunteer who is given a bottle of water or a T-shirt (with a message about the initiative petition) would perhaps be considered “paid.” Also the law requiring voters to fill in all the blanks doesn’t apply if the voter is “disabled”, but that term is not defined. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.

Kentucky Senate Leader May Introduce a Bill to Let Candidates run Simultaneously for President and Congress

Posted on by March 4, 2014
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Kentucky State Senator Damon Thayer, leader of the State Senate and a Republican, will decide by March 5 whether to introduce a bill to let candidates run simultaneously for President or Vice-President and either house of Congress. March 5 is the deadline for bills to be introduced in the Kentucky legislature.

If Senator Thayer introduces this bill, it will be to help U.S. Senator Rand Paul, whose term is up in the 2016 election and who may run for President that year. Other individuals who ran in the the general election in the same year for President and either House of Congress are Henry Clay in 1824, James Garfield in 1880, William Lemke in 1936, John Schmitz in 1972, and Randall Terry in 2012.

Clay and Lemke were re-elected to the House in the years in which they were running for President, but neither won his presidential race. Clay was re-elected to the House on August 2, 1824, and ran for President that year as well. There were no party nominees for President in 1824; candidates ran as individuals. Clay won all of Kentucky’s electoral votes in a popular vote held in November but he did not win the presidential election nationally.

Lemke was the Union Party presidential nominee and he was simultaneously re-elected to the House from North Dakota as a Republican. For president within North Dakota, he polled 13.4%.

James Garfield was elected to the U.S. Senate by the Ohio legislature early in 1880, and he was nominated for President at the Republican national convention on June 8, 1880, and he won the presidential election. He had not sought the Republican nomination for President, and had made the nominating speech for presidential candidate John Sherman at that convention. Garfield himself did not receive more than 2 votes for president at the convention until the 34th ballot.

John G. Schmitz was defeated for re-election to the U.S. House in California in June 1972, and then in August 1972 he was nominated by the American Party/American Independent Party for President.

Randall Terry ran in 2012 for Congress in Florida, and for president in Kentucky, Nebraska, and West Virginia.