The Washington Secretary of State has determined that I-517 has enough valid signatures and will be on the November 2013 ballot. I-517 is an initiative that, if passed, would make it easier to qualify initiatives in Washington state. It expands the petitioning period from six months to one year, and outlaws various forms of harassment of petitioners. Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news.
On January 9, 2013, the Gary Johnson presidential campaign received another $121,755.77 in primary season matching funds from the Federal Election Commission. This is in addition to the December 19, 2012 payment of $202,026, and to amounts received earlier in 2012.
Therefore, the total amount of primary season matching funds that was received for the entire Johnson campaign now totals $632,016.75.
On November 5, the Florida Secretary of State notified that Florida Green Party that because the party’s financial report had been due on November 2, and it was not actually filed until November 3, the party owes a fine of $10,000. The party has appealed this decision. The party treasurer tried to file the report on November 2 electronically but computer problems made that impossible. The party points out that the report was only 15 hours late, and that the fine seems excessive, given that the party’s income and expenditures for the period covered by the Report were both under $1,000. As far as is known, the Florida Secretary of State has not yet ruled on the party’s appeal.
On January 23, the Virginia Senate Privileges and Elections Committee passed SB 690 by a vote of 10-5. This is the bill that eases the petition requirement for all presidential candidates, whether they are running in a presidential primary, or are petitioning to get on the November ballot. It cuts the number of signatures from 10,000 to 5,000.
The eight Republicans on the Committee supported the bill by a margin of 7-1. The Democrats on the Committee were split, with 3 supporting the bill and 4 opposing it. Thanks to Tom Yager for this news.
Bills have been introduced in both houses of the Rhode Island legislature to eliminate the straight-ticket device. They are H5072 and S44. Already a majority of members of the House are co-sponsoring the bill. The Governor and the Secretary of State also support the bill. Proponents of the bill have set up this web page to help pass the bill.
The web page name, masterlever.org, and the picture at the top of that page, hark back to the days when Rhode Island used mechanical voting machines. Actually, no state any longer uses those machines, but even though Rhode Island now uses paper ballots that are electronically counted, the state still has the straight-ticket device on those paper ballots.
