Missouri Legislature Adjourns; Only Two Election Law Bills Passed All Year

Posted on by May 25, 2013
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On May 17, the Missouri legislature adjourned for the year.  Only two election law bills passed this year.  SB 116 makes it easier for overseas voters to register to vote and easier for them to request an absentee ballot.  The bill lets them use the internet for those purposes.

HB 110 is the other bill that passed.  It provides that if the office of Lieutenant Governor becomes vacant, a special election will be held.  Current law has been interpreted to permit the Governor to appoint a new Lieutenant Governor, although if one reads it literally, gubernatorial appointment seems unauthorized by current law.

Earlier in the year, it appeared likely that the Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kinder, would run in the special congressional election set for June 4, 2013.  He is a Republican and the Governor is a Democrat.  HB 110 was probably motivated by Republican fears that if Kinder did run, and did win, then the Governor would be able to appoint a Democrat to take his place.  As it turned out, Kinder didn’t run for Congress.  Although the bill calls for a special election to fill a vacancy in the Lieutenant Governor’s office, the special election could only be held simultaneously with a regularly-scheduled state election.   Thus it would have no effect unless the vacancy occurred during the first two years of the Lieutenant Governor’s term.

Surprisingly, no bill passed to move the February presidential primary to March.  Thus the Missouri presidential primary continues to be out of compliance with the national rules of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.  Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this information.

 

 

Late-Counted Votes Appear to Change Outcome in California Special Legislative Election

Posted on by May 25, 2013
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California held a special election to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 16th district, on May 21.  Five candidates appeared on the ballot.  In California special elections, if anyone gets 50% in the first round, there is no further election.

As of two days after the election, the votes that had been counted showed that the only Republican in the race, Andy Vidak, had 51.9% of the total vote cast.  However, since then, previously uncounted provisional and absentee votes have been counted, and currently no one has as much as 50%, although not all votes will have been counted until May 31 so that could change again.

The new results, as of May 25, are:  Republican Andy Vidak 30,993; Democrat Leticia Perez 27,264; Democrat Frank Ramirez 1,867; Democrat Paula Miranda 1,605; Mohammed “O” Arif of the Peace & Freedom Party 468.  This totals 62,197, so a majority would be 31,099.  Vidak is 106 votes below having a majority.

Frank Ramirez, who was on the ballot as a Democrat, had been registered as a Libertarian before he filed for the race.

 

 

Massachusetts Election Law Committee Hears Some Election Law Bills

Posted on by May 25, 2013
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On May 15, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws heard four election law bills.  In Massachusetts, the committee typically takes testimony, and then takes several weeks to decide whether to pass the bills.

The Committee heard testimony on these bills:  (1) H.591, to repeal the National Popular Vote Plan that Massachusetts approved several years ago; (2) S.324, to prohibit electronic vote-counting machines; (3) H.583, to let 17-year-olds vote in city and town elections; (4) H.642, to print “None of the above” on the ballot in all candidate elections.  There would be no consequences of “NOTA” won the election.

California Bill Advances, Would Remove Residency Requirements for Petitioners

Posted on by May 24, 2013
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On May 24, the California Senate Appropriations Committee passed SB 213. This is the bill to remove residency requirements for petitioners. The Committee amended the bill. The original bill said that out-of-state circulators must file a document with the Secretary of State, consenting to accept legal jurisdiction of California courts, in case the circulator is charged with any crime in connection with petitioning. But the Committee amended the bill to delete the need for such a document, because the paperwork would theoretically have required the expenditure state funds of approximately $100,000 per year.

Therefore, under the amended bill, out-of-state circulators can work in California without filing any special paperwork.

U.S. District Court Issues Fascinating Opinion on Presidential Qualifications

Posted on by May 24, 2013
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On May 23, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England issued a 23-page opinion in Grinols v Electoral College, eastern district, California, 2:12cv-2997. The subject is presidential qualifications. The lead plaintiff, James Grinols, was a Republican presidential elector candidate in 2012. The plaintiffs had filed the case last year, to stop the California presidential electors from voting for President Obama.

The decision carries a comprehensive list of all the lawsuits on this subject filed in the last five years; there appear to be twelve such cases. The opinion also has a comprehensive survey of decisions that wrestle with the subject of whether a presidential candidate, or a candidate for presidential elector, has standing to challenge the qualifications (and hence ballot placement) for a competing candidate. The decision concludes by saying that plaintiffs’ only remedy is to either work for the impeachment of the President, or to persuade Congress to appoint a special prosecutor concerning forged birth documents, or to work for a Constitutional Amendment to more clearly define “natural-born citizen.”