On February 4, the Virginia Senate unanimously passed SB 1049. It says the voters on the inactive list may sign petitions. It also sets up administrative appeal procedures, for cases in which a candidate is told his or her petition lacks enough valid signatures.
Massachusetts holds a special U.S. Senate election in June, to fill the seat left empty when U.S. Senator John Kerry resigned to become Secretary of State. Daniel Fishman, a Libertarian who ran for U.S. House in 2012, plans to get on the ballot. He will need 10,000 signatures.
Fishman is an active campaigner. In 2012, he polled 16,739 votes in the Sixth U.S. House district, in the only close U.S. House race in Massachusetts. The Democrat, John F. Tierney, was re-elected with 180,942 votes; the Republican, Richard Tisei, polled 176,612. Here is Fishman’s campaign web page. Thanks to Carla Howell for this news.
On January 18, the Arizona Secretary of State released a new voter registration tally. There is little change since November 2012, but the percentage of voters registered in the state’s three recognized minor parties increased, and the percentage of independent voters also increased. Here is a link to the data on the Secretary of State’s web page.
The November 2012 percentages were: Republican 35.88%, Democratic 30.50%, Libertarian .71%, Green .156%, Americans Elect .0076%, independent 32.76%.
The January 2013 percentages are: Republican 35.63%, Democratic 30.49%, Libertarian .73%, Green .157%, Americans Elect .0080%, independent 33.00%.
It is somewhat surprising that the only two categories to decline are Republican and Democratic, since the state’s paper voter registration forms have a checkbox for each of the two major parties, but if the voter wants to register independent or into one of the minor parties, the voter must write-in that choice. The constitutionality of that voter registration form will be decided any day now; the matter is pending in U.S. District Court in Tucson.
On February 4, four candidates filed petitions to be on the ballot in the April 9, 2013 special election for U.S. House, Illinois 2nd district. The seat is vacant because Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., resigned from Congress shortly after he was re-elected in November 2012.
The four petitions were filed by LeAlan Jones, Green Party nominee; and three independents, Marcus Lewis, Liz Pahlke, and Curtiss Bey. It is not yet known how many signatures each filed. As a result of the court decision on Friday, February 1, if any of these candidates is challenged, he or she can only remain on the ballot if there are at least 3,444 valid signatures.
Connecticut Representative Timothy Bowles (D-Preston) has introduced HB 6098, to lower the statewide minor party and independent candidate petition from 7,500 signatures to 5,000 signatures. The Green Party is responsible for the existence of this bill.
The Green Party tried and failed to get its presidential nominees on the Connecticut ballot in both 2008 and 2012; also the Libertarians failed to get on for President in 2008. Connecticut petitioning, like petitioning in all the New England states, is more difficult than petitioning in other parts of the country, because the signatures must first be taken to the town clerks for checking and then collected and submitted to the state. Therefore, the existing 7,500 requirement is more difficult than it appears. Thanks to Ken Krayeske for this news.
