Americans Elect has a webpage with a blog. The May 20 blog entry again emphasizes that all registered voters in the United States may participate in choosing the party’s presidential nominee.
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New Mexico and Wisconsin are both somewhat likely to abandon straight-ticket devices starting in 2012. In New Mexico, it is reported that the new Secretary of State, Dianna Duran, will eliminate the device. New Mexico election law does not authorize it, but past Secretaries of State have imposed it anyway. In the past all parties had a straight-ticket device, but the preceding Secretary of State, Mary Herrera, had eliminated it for minor parties, while keeping it for major parties.
In Wisconsin, the omnibus election law bill has passed the legislature, and it abolishes the straight-ticket device. The bill, AB 7, passed the Assembly on May 11, and the Senate on May 17. The bill contains many provisions that make it more difficult for certain individuals to vote, by requiring government photo-ID, and therefore Democrats have vigorously opposed it. However, Republicans are in a majority in both houses of the legislature, and the Governor is a Republican, so the bill will probably be signed into law.
A bill to improve Georgia ballot access was introduced a few months ago. It is HB 494, by Rusty Kidd (the legislature’s only independent) and Alan Powell, a Republican from Hartwell. It abolishes mandatory petitions for all candidates. Although the Georgia legislature has adjourned for the year, Georgia’s legislature has two-year sessions, so the bill could advance in 2012. Thanks to Garland Favorito for this news.
On May 19, a Nevada state court ruled that political parties may choose nominees in the upcoming special U.S. House election. The case is Nevada Republican Party v State of Nevada, 11oc-00147, in First Judicial District Court, Carson City. See this story. The judge is permitting parties until June 30 to choose a nominee. There will be no primaries, so these nominees will be chosen in party meetings.
The ballot-qualified parties are Democratic, Republican, Independent American, and Libertarian. Any independent candidate, or any nominee of an unqualified party, may also run with 250 signatures.
On May 19, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed HB 1355, which hugely increases ballot access barriers for new political parties that wish to run someone for President. See this story. The bill also forbids anyone from running in a partisan primary for any office if that candidate had switched parties at any time during the year before filing. If this law had been in effect in Pennsylvania in 2010, former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter would not have been permitted to run in the Democratic primary, something that he actually did do, although he lost that primary.
All Florida legislators took an oath to support both the Florida Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution. The Florida Constitution says, “Article VI. Suffrage and Elections. Section One. Regulation of Elections. The requirements for a candidate with no party affiliation or for a candidate of a minor party for placement of the candidate’s name on the ballot shall be no greater than the requirements for a candidate of the party having the largest number of registered voters.”
Yet the new law requires the presidential candidate of a party that has not received recognition from the Federal Election Commission as a national committee to submit 335,000 valid signatures, on a petition that names the candidate, no later than July 15. There is no provision in the law for a stand-in. The petition must contain the signatures of approximately 10,000 registered voters from each of 14 U.S. House districts. The party must pay to have its signatures checked. Meanwhile, of course, the Democratic Party (the party that has the most registered voters in Florida) doesn’t need any petition.
The FEC will not give “national committee” status to a new party. The old parties that have that status are the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Socialist, Natural Law, and Reform Parties. The Green Party did not receive its “national committee” status until 2001, even though it first began contesting presidential elections in 1996. The Reform Party, which was formed in 1995, did not get “national committee” status until 1998. The only time the FEC ever gave “national committee” status to a party in its first year of existence was in late September 1992, for the Natural Law Party. But that came far too late in the year to meet the new Florida law’s July 15 deadline.
Pawnee, Oklahoma, held a non-partisan election for Mayor on April 5, 2011. Chris Linder won. However, because he had a past felony conviction in Arizona, he cannot be sworn in. See this story. Now the city will need a special election to fill the vacancy. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for the link.
Linder did not know that his past felony conviction would disqualify him until after the ballots had been printed. Then he tried to get a pardon from Arizona, but Arizona officials refused.