On February 10, several groups that sponsor statewide initiatives filed a lawsuit against Michigan’s law that bans out-of-state circulators for petitioners. The case is Humane Society Legislative Fund v Ruth Johnson, eastern district, 2:14cv-10601. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Paul Jacob for the link.
James J. Condit, Jr., has filed to appear on the Ohio Constitution Party primary ballot, for U.S. House, 8th district. Condit has run against House Speaker John Boehner twice in the past, and intends to do so again in 2014. See this story, which names all the candidates who filed in the 8th district for a spot on a primary ballot.
In November 2012, no one appeared on the ballot against Boehner, but Condit was a write-in candidate, polling 1,938 write-ins. In November 2010, Boehner had opponents from the Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties. The November 2010 vote was: Republican 142,731; Democratic 65,883; Libertarian 5,121; Constitution 3,701.
Nebraska State Senator John Murante (R-Gretna) has introduced an omnibus election law bill, LB 1048. Among other provisions, it says a ballot-qualified party can dissolve itself if it files notice by November 1 of the year before an election. This provision is surely part of the bill because Americans Elect qualified for party status in Nebraska (and many other states) and then decided not to run any candidates.
New York city ballots in 2014 and future years will be easier to read than they were in 2013. See this story, which says the Board found a way to increase the font size of the names of candidates and parties. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
On February 7, a District of Columbia Superior Court refused to order the D.C. Board of Elections to list the office of Attorney General on primary ballots. The primary is on April 1. See this story.
In 2010 the voters had passed a charter amendment saying the office would become elective, starting in 2014. The wording on the ballot said the first election would be in 2014, but the actual charter amendment (which wasn’t printed on the ballot because it was far too lengthy) just said the first election would be after January 1, 2014. Years after the charter amendment passed, the city council passed an ordinance saying the first election will be in 2018.
As the story says, it is still possible there will be an Attorney General election in November 2014, because a bill pending in the City Council provides that all candidates for that office would run in November 2014. Party labels would be on the ballot, but there would be no party nominees. The charter amendment says the Attorney General’s election will be a partisan election, so the bill itself, if it passes, may be challenged in court.
