West Virginia Legislature Passes Bill Making Judicial Elections Non-Partisan

Posted on by February 25, 2015
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On February 23, the West Virginia legislature passed HB 2010, which makes elections for state judges non-partisan. It will become law if the Governor signs it.

Making judicial elections non-partisan will simplify the general election ballot. Under current law, if a qualified party doesn’t nominate anyone for a judicial post, there still must be an entry on the ballot naming that party and saying it didn’t nominate anyone. The November 2014 ballot showed such entries for both the Mountain Party and the Libertarian Party, for example. West Virginia minor parties never nominate for judicial office anyway.

In 2010, the general election ballot had one State Supreme Court race, with a Democrat running against a Republican. The same was true for 2012. There were no statewide judicial races in 2014. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news.

Another Texas Bill Concerning Straight-Ticket Devices

Posted on by February 25, 2015
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Texas Representative Kenneth Sheets (R-Texas) has introduced HB 25. It retains the straight-ticket device in general, but removes partisan judicial races from the scope of the device. The other Texas bills concerning straight-ticket devices are: (1) HB 1288, which completely eliminates it; (2) HB 1444, which removes it for judicial offices in counties with over 1,000,000 population. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

Illinois State Appeals Court Says Petitions Are Valid if they are Close to Having Enough Valid Signatures

Posted on by February 24, 2015
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On February 17, the Illinois State Court of Appeals, 5th district, ruled that a candidate’s ballot access petition is valid if it comes close to having enough valid signatures. Jackson-Hicks v East St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, 5-15-0028. The incumbent Mayor of East St. Louis, Alvin Parks, is running for re-election this month, and even though the Board determined that he needed 136 signatures and only had 123 valid signatures, it still left him on the ballot.

One of the mayor’s opponents sued the Board to have the Mayor removed from the ballot, but on January 19 the trial court kept him on the ballot, and now the State Appeals Court has agreed. The person who challenged the Mayor’s petition plans to ask the State Supreme Court to reverse the decision. Mayor Parks had said if he had been removed from the ballot, he would have been a write-in candidate. Thanks to Andy Finko for this news. Here is the opinion.

Working Families Party Elects a State Senator in Connecticut

Posted on by February 24, 2015
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On February 24, Working Families Party nominee Ed Gomes was elected to the Connecticut State Senate, district 23, centered on Bridgeport. Gomes defeated the nominees of the Democratic and Republican Party, as well as two independent candidates. See this story, which doesn’t contain any figures.

This is the first time a party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties has elected a state legislator in Connecticut since 1938, when the Socialist Party elected four of its nominees. Those wins were also in Bridgeport. UPDATE: this newspaper story gives partial election returns, showing the race wasn’t close.