Maine Representative Deane Rykerson (D-Kittery) has introduced LD 1422, to establish a presidential primary in Maine. If it passes, it would allow the Green Party to have its own presidential primary in 2016. Maine has never held a presidential primary for any party, except that it had one for the Democratic and Republican Parties in 1996 and 2000. For more about the bill, see this article at Frontloading HQ.
On April 26, a state court in Illinois ruled that Steven Wailand received a majority in the Macomb February election for Alderman. See this news release from the Liberty Justice Center, which represented Wailand. He received 17 votes and his only opponent received 16. The issue was whether he had received a majority. Local election officials had said that “majority” means at least one more than half the votes cast, but the judge disagreed. Here is the opinion. The case is Wailand v City of Macomb, circuit court, 9th district, 13-MR-46.
On April 11, the Vermont Senate passed S86, an omnibus election law bill. Among other things, it moves the independent candidate petition deadline from June to August. The bill is now pending in the House Government Operations Committee. Specifically, the bill says the independent petition deadline is three days after the primary.
The Post & Courier, Charleston’s daily newspaper, has this article about Eugene Platt, the Green Party nominee in the special election set for May in South Carolina’s First U.S. House district. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link. Platt is the only ballot-listed candidate other than the Democratic and Republican nominees.
