More Virginia Ballot Access Improvement Bills Introduced

Posted on by January 18, 2013
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Virginia Delegate Robert Brink (D-Arlington) has introduced HB 1898, which repeals the ban on out-of-state petition circulators. That law has already been held unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court, but the state is appealing.

Virginia Delegate Joseph Morrissey (D-Henrico) has introduced HB 2213, which lowers the number of signatures for all presidential candidates (both presidential primary candidates, and candidates petitioning for the general election) from 10,000 signatures to 5,000 signatures. The bill also lowers the number of signatures for candidates running for a statewide office in a party primary from 10,000 to 5,000. Unfortunately, the bill does not alter the law that requires non-presidential statewide independent and minor party candidates to obtain 10,000 signatures.

HB 2213 also sets forth procedures for a candidate to challenge a determination by a Board of Elections that the petition lacks enough valid signatures. Currently, when a Board of Elections says a petition doesn’t have enough valid signature, there is no administrative review process, and the candidate’s only recourse is to file a lawsuit. Last year a federal court in Virginia put an independent candidate on the ballot after finding that she did have enough valid signatures. The court also rebuked the state for not having any administrative review process.

Indiana Bill Would Restrict Write-ins

Posted on by January 18, 2013
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Two Indiana State Representatives, Bob Cherry (R-Greenfield) and Richard Hamm (R-Richmond) have introduced HB 1112. Indiana currently allows write-ins in general elections. The bill would provide that only self-described independent candidates would be permitted to file as write-in candidates. Each declared write-in candidate would need to affirm that he or she is “not affiliated with any party.” Here is the text of the bill.

The bill, if enacted, would violate the U.S. District Court decision Paul v State of Indiana Election Board, 743 F Supp 616 (1990), which struck down Indiana’s old write-in ban, on the basis that the ban violated the rights of voters. The bill would also violate the 14th amendment equal protection clause. The lawsuit that struck down Indiana’s ban on write-ins was filed by Ron Paul, when he was the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in 1988. Indiana was one of only four states in which Paul failed to get on the ballot.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Hawaii’s ban on write-ins in Burdick v Takushi in 1992, the decision says that write-ins are not needed in Hawaii because anyone can get on either the primary ballot or the general election ballot with 25 signatures, as late as July. That decision would not necessarily relate to Indiana, which has such strict ballot access for minor party and independent candidates that no statewide petition has succeeded in Indiana since 2000.

Independent Candidate in Illinois Removed from Ballot Because She and Her Husband Collected Too Many of Her Own Signatures

Posted on by January 18, 2013
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Laura Sandefur, an independent candidate in the April 9, 2013 election for Cunningham Township, Illinois Township Assessor, has been removed from the ballot. Illinois law says no one can circulate a petition to place someone on a primary ballot, and then also collect signatures in the same election cycle for an independent candidate or the nominee of a previously unqualified party. Sandefur and her husband had collected signatures earlier to get her on the Democratic primary ballot, but they had withdrawn that petition. Then she and her husband, among others, worked on her independent petition. Because they had collected signatures earlier on her withdrawn Democratic primary petition, they are not allowed to have helped collect signatures for her as an independent. See this story.

As a result, voters will see only one candidate on the ballot. Cunningham Township is in Champaign County and is co-terminous with the city of Urbana.

Various States Consider Bills Changing Presidential Elector Procedures

Posted on by January 18, 2013
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Bills are pending in several states to alter how that state elects presidential electors. The National Popular Vote Plan bill has been introduced so far this year in Arizona (SB 1042), Louisiana (SB 705 and HB 1095), Missouri (HB 39), New Hampshire (HB 148), and Oklahoma (SB 906).

Jurisdictions that have already passed the plan are California, D.C., Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, and Washington.

Bills are pending in Maryland and New Jersey to withdraw from the plan. The Maryland bill is HB 73; the New Jersey bills are A859 and S1626.

At least three states are considering the model bill that provides that if a presidential elector votes “unfaithfully”, he or she is deemed to have been disqualified and is automatically replaced by a back-up elector. Those bills are SB 200 in Indiana, LB 167 in Nebraska, and SB 309 in Oklahoma.

Virginia has a bill for each U.S. House district to choose its own presidential elector, SB 723. News stories say Republican legislators in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are thinking about similar bills, but so far they don’t seem to have been introduced.

Nebraska State Senator Again Introduces Bill to Permit Electronic Signature-Gathering

Posted on by January 18, 2013
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Nebraska State Senator Paul Schumacher (R-Columbus) has again introduced a bill to permit voters to sign petitions on-line. His bill, LB 160, only applies to initiative, referendum and recall petitions. He introduced the same bill in the last session, but it didn’t pass. There was also a bill in the session before that to do the same thing, but it didn’t pass either.