The Mayor of Burton, Michgigan, Paula Zelenko, is running for re-election in November 2015. The election is non-partisan. Her only opponent is in court, charging that Zelenko signed off as the circulator of her own petitions, but that she herself did not circulate some petition sheets.
See this story. Zelenko argues that the challenge to her petition was filed too late to be considered. Burton has a population of 30,000 and is near Flint.
On July 13, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro held a trial in Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 1:14cv-322. The purpose of the hearing was to hear from activists from the New Hampshire Libertarian Party about the difficulty of completing the party petition, which requires signatures equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The party has done this petition drive twice, in 2000 and 2012, and both times took a year or more to get the job done. The lawsuit challenges the 2014 law that says no one can start this petition drive until January 1 of the election year.
Rich Tomasso and John Babiarz were the only two witnesses. Their testimony went on for four hours and fifteen minutes. The hearing went well. The judge said there will be a decision by the middle of August 2015.
Recently, supporters of Instant Runoff Voting for Duluth, Minnesota city elections submitted approximately 2,200 signatures on a city initiative petition. If the petition is valid, either the Duluth City Council will again consider whether the city should study Instant Runoff Voting, or the voters will decide that question.
Last month, the Duluth City Council voted 5-4 not to study IRV. Thanks to Bob Richard for this news.
On June 30, the Washington state legislature passed the budget bill, SB 6052. The Governor lined out a few appropriations but he did not line out funding for the presidential primary, so it will be held.
However, the date still is not determined. The existing law says it should be May 24 unless the Secretary of State and the two qualified parties agree to another date. It is likely the Republican Party will ask for an earlier presidential primary. The Democratic Party probably won’t want to use its presidential primary, but the Democratic Party is not likely to stop the Republicans from having an earlier primary. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.
Another state which hasn’t settled the date of its 2016 presidential primary is North Carolina. The legislature came back into session last week.
On July 13, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker formally declared his candidacy for the Republican Party presidential nomination. That makes 17 candidates with the qualifications to be recognized by the Republican National Committee as bona fide candidates. Pollsters include all 17. For example, see this Monmouth University Poll released July 13.
In all U.S. history, the most crowded Republican presidential primary ballots were in 1996, when there were an average of 8.1 candidates on the ballot. Because half the states place candidates on the ballot automatically in presidential primaries if they are discussed in the news media (which means, in practice, if they are recognized as bona fide by the party and by pollsters), all these 17 candidates will be on the primary ballots in states with such laws. Thus, assuming few if any of the 17 drop out before ballots must be printed in December 2015 and January-March 2016, the 2016 Republican primary ballots will be the most crowded regularly-scheduled statewide elections in U.S. history.
No state has ever had as many as 17 presidential candidates on a ballot in a general election. The largest general election ballot for President was in 2012, when Colorado had 16. Colorado required no petition, just a fee of $500. Colorado has since raised the fee to $1,000.
Since 2012, no state except Arizona has made ballot access in presidential primaries more difficult. Virginia has made it easier. Arizona formerly had no requirements except that the candidate submit a declaration of candidacy and show that the candidate had at least one worker in Arizona. In 2015, Arizona added a requirement that the candidate be on the ballot in at least two other states, or else submit a petition of 500 names.
In 2012, New Hampshire had the most crowded Republican presidential primary ballot, with 30 candidates. Virginia had the least candidates, only two. The average in 2012 was 7.25 candidates and the median state had six candidates. New Hampshire almost always has the most crowded presidential primary ballots because the state requires no petition, just a fee of $1,000.
