California AB 19, by Assemblymember Phil Ting, failed to pass the Assembly Appropriations Committee on May 24. Although the bill is not dead, because it didn’t make the Appropriations Committee deadline, it cannot pass this year. AB 19 would establish a pilot project for voting by internet.
On May 25, acclaimed radio talk-show host Gene Burns died. See this story. He had been the likely Libertarian Party presidential nominee in 1984, but a few days before the party’s presidential convention, he had changed his mind and decided he didn’t want the nomination.
On May 23, the Ohio House of Representatives determined that Al Landis, not Josh O’Farrell, had won the November 2012 election for the 98th district. See this story. The determination came more than six months since the election. It is typical of legislative bodies, including Congress, that these decisions take a very long time. There have been disputed U.S. House elections in the past, in which the House didn’t determine the winner until the two-year term was almost entirely over.
On May 23, Alabama Republican Congressman Jo Bonner said he will resign from Congress on August 15, 2013. Therefore, the state will hold a special election in the First District soon afterwards.
Bonner was re-elected with no ballot-listed opponent in 2012. In 2010, his only opponent on the November ballot was Constitution Party nominee David Walter. Walter polled 16.96% in that two-candidate race. The Constitution Party is well-organized in the First District and it is plausible the party will now launch a petition drive to get on the ballot for the upcoming special election. Any unqualified party is free to work on such a petition at any time, without having to wait until it has chosen a candidate. The petition is a party petition, not a petition that names the nominee. The nominee is chosen later after the petition succeeds.
The Naples News has this story about the Florida Libertarian Party’s state convention. The focus of the article is the talk given to the convention by Roger Stone.
