The New York Daily News has this editorial, asking Governor Andrew Cuomo not to accept the nomination of the Independence Party in 2014. The editorial assumes that if Cuomo were not the Independence Party nominee, the party would probably not be able to find a nominee who would poll at least 50,000 votes. The newspaper, for some years, has been a critic of the Independence Party, and hopes that the party dies. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
On April 9, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed AB 1038 on a vote of 5-2. It makes it illegal to pay registration drive workers on the basis of how many registration cards they submit listing any particular party. This would injure the ability of new parties to get on the ballot, or old parties to remain on the ballot. Parties cannot be qualified in California unless they have approximately 110,000 registered members.
The vote was 5-2. All the Democrats voted “Yes” and all the Republicans voted “No.” At the hearing, seven individuals testified against the bill, including members of the Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties. The ACLU of California submitted a letter in opposition to the bill, but the ACLU lobbyist did not testify in person. The legislature passed somewhat similar bills in 2011 and 2012, but both times Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill.
Unlike previous years, this year the Secretary of State did not endorse the bill. Barry Brokaw, the lobbyist for the organization of California county election officials, testified in person that the organization has no formal position on the bill, and yet he said the organization does not oppose the bill, a statement that is not logical. The name of that organization is the California Association of County Election Officials, CACEO.
On April 9, a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., stopped the scheduled May 11, 2013 election for School Board in Beaumont, Texas, under the federal Voting Rights Act. The case is Beaumont Independent School District v U.S., civ 13-401. The reason the election was stopped is that the School District, and a Texas State Court of Appeals, had ruled that all seven seats should be up for election in May, yet this decision was not made until after the candidate qualification period had closed. Some of the incumbent members of the Board had not filed for re-election because, under the old rules, their seats weren’t up. Under the new rules, their seats were up, but they had not had a chance to file to be on the ballot.
The election will now be held in November 2013.
On April 9, Illinois held a special U.S. House election, 2nd district. The unofficial results are: Democrat Robin Kelly 57,985 (70.78%); Republican Paul McKinley 18,071 (22.06%); Green LeAlan Jones 1,503 (1.83%); and these three independent candidates Elizabeth Pahlke 2,477 (3.02%); Marcus Lewis 1,344 (1.64%); Curtiss Lleng Bey 538 (.66%).
When this seat was up last time, in November 2012, the results were: Democrat Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. 63.25%; Republican Brian Woodworth 23.22%; independent Marcus Lewis 13.44%; write-ins .10%. Thanks to Michael for the new election results.
Many municipalities in Illinois have partisan city and town elections, but the parties are local parties that exist only in that municipality. In North Riverside Village, the two parties are the Voters Improvement Party (which is an old party that has held power for decades) and a new party, the Transparency & Accountability in Politics Party.
The new party only appeared on the April 9 ballot because it won a lawsuit. It had been removed from the ballot on the grounds that Illinois state law says parties can have no more than five words in their name. But the State Appeals Court put the party back on, ruling that an ampersand is not a word. See this story.
