According to this story, leading Maryland Democratic legislators want to revise the state Constitution, to make it more difficult for referendums to get on the ballot. Thanks to Doug McNeil for the link.
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Starting in 2013, the Czech Republic elects its President by popular vote. Previously, Parliament had chosen the President. Because the Czech Republic uses a parliamentary system, the Presidency is not endowed with a great deal of political power, but the Czech President does represent the nation, and chooses some judges.
The election law requires a candidate for President to have the endorsement of 10 Senators, or 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies, or submit 50,000 signatures. The Czech Republic has a population of approximately ten million; 50,000 is somewhat less than 1% of the eligible signers. Nine candidates qualified for the January 11-12, 2013 ballot. Three qualified by obtaining endorsements from members of Parliament, and six qualified with petitions. One of the six who qualified by petition was initially told she didn’t have enough valid signatures, but a court ruled that she did have enough.
No one polled as much as 50%, so a run-off was held two weeks later, which was won by Milos Zeman. Here is the wikipedia article about the election. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On January 28, the Wyoming House Revenue Committee passed HB 96, which makes it easier for a party to remain on the ballot. It now goes to the House floor. Current law requires a party to meet the 2% vote test every two years. The bill says that a party only must meet the vote test every four years. Thanks to Don Wills for the information, and also for his hard work bring the bill into existence.
On January 25, U.S. District Court Timothy S. Black, an Obama appointee, rejected the defamation lawsuit filed in 2010 by former Ohio Congressman Steve Driehaus. Here is the 7-page opinion, Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 1:10-cv-720, southern district. Congressman Driehaus, who had represented Cincinnati, had been defeated in November 2010. He then sued the Susan B. Anthony List, an organization that fights legal abortion, because the List had threatened to erect billboards in the district before the election that would have said, “Shame on Steve Driehaus! Driehaus voted for taxpayer-funded abortions.”
The billboards were never actually erected, because the List had been threatened with prosecution. Ohio election law, since 1995, has said, “No person, during the course of any campaign for nomination or election to public office, shall knowingly…make a false statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official.” The List had responded by filing a federal lawsuit against that Ohio law, but when that did not succeed, Driehaus had filed his own lawsuit, arguing that the List had defamed him and caused him loss of livelihood. That is the lawsuit that has just been dismissed. Judge Black determined that the proposed billboard was not defamatory.
When this case had first been filed, Judge Black had been criticized because he had not recused himself, because he was President and Director of Planned Parenthood in Cincinnati before he was a federal judge. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link to the January 25, 2013 decision.
In May 2012, the Associated Students at Cal State University sponsored a congressional debate on campus, for candidates running in the 30th district. However, the Association only invited four of the seven ballot-listed candidates to participate. It invited the two incumbent Congressmen, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman. It also invited two Republicans candidates, Mark Reed and Susan Shelley. But it did not invite the only minor party candidate, Professor Michael Powelson, a member of the Green Party. Nor did it invite Democrat Vince Gilmore nor Republican Navraj Singh.
At the time the Association said it was only inviting the four candidates whom, it thought, had a realistic chance to place first or second and thus qualify to be on the November ballot. Now Graduate Student Ankur Patel, a Green, has sued the Association in small claims court. The hearing is January 30, Wednesday, at 1 p.m., in the Chatsworth Courthouse, 9425 Penfield Avenue, Los Angeles. Patel, as a student, is forced to be a member of the Association and to pay $82 dues each semester. Technically the lawsuit asks that the Association refund his dues; such a claim is necessary in order to have the ability to use small claims court. The real goal is to pressure the Association into never again hosting a debate without inviting all ballot-listed candidates. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story about the case.