The April 21 San Francisco Chronicle has this article about Green Party candidate David Curtis and his attempts to be included in the April 22 debate for California Secretary of State.
UPDATE: BradBlog has also covered the story; see here. Thanks to Rick Hasen for that link.
The Sacramento Press Club, a non-profit public benefit educational corporation, is hosting a debate for candidates for California Secretary of State at noon on April 23 (Wednesday). However, so far, the Press Club has not invited David Curtis, Green Party candidate, even though the Press Club has invited two other candidates who have less voter support than Curtis, according to the April 10 California Poll.
The Press Club has invited Dan Schnur, independent, who was at 4% in that poll, as well as Derek Cressman, Democrat, who was at 3% in the same poll. Here is the letter that Curtis’s attorney has sent to the Press Club, pointing out that federal law requires debate sponsors to use objective criteria when they decide which candidates to invite into debates. Paradoxically, Curtis is a member of the Sacramento Press Club and he will be at the event, either in the audience or possibly as a late-entry into the debate. UPDATE: here is a news story.
In Colorado, local water boards are permitted to run their own elections. The Ken Caryl Ranch Water and Sanitation Board has decided to hold its next election for Director using Approval Voting. The district elects five directors and serves an area with a population of approximately 32,000, near Littleton. Approval voting lets voters vote for as many candidates as they wish, regardless of how many are to be elected. Thanks to Frank Atwood and Mike Spalding for this news.
The first two briefs have been filed in U.S. District Court in Moore v Martin, the case challenging the March petition deadline that the 2013 session of the Arkansas legislature passed. Here is the Defendants’ brief, arguing that the case should be dismissed for various procedural matters, and here is the plaintiffs’ brief rebutting the state’s brief.
On March 29, the voters of Slovakia elected Andrej Kiska President. He is not a member of any political party, and his campaign slogan had been “The First Independent President.” The election was held on March 15, with a runoff on March 29 because no one received a majority. Fourteen candidates had been on the March 15 ballot. They had qualified by submitting 15,000 signatures. See this story about the runoff. In that runoff, Kiska defeated the nation’s sitting Prime Minister.
