On April 1, the Tennessee Senate State & Local Government Committee failed to pass SB 1091. The vote was 3-3. On a tie, the bill cannot advance. It would have lowered the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote (over 40,000 signatures) to exactly 2,500 signatures.
On April 1, the Maine State Senate passed LD 511 on second reading by 17-16. The bill still needs to pass on third reading, but the vote was preceded by extensive debate. Two State Senators did not vote. See this story. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the link.
On March 31, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a two-page opinion that affirms the lower court ruling, and keeps Jonathan Narcisse off this year’s June 3 Democratic primary ballot. The issue was whether his petition had enough valid signatures. He was eleven signatures short because 35 of his petition sheets omitted the office he is running for. The Iowa Supreme Court opinion does not discuss the issue, except to say the lower court was correct. The opinion will not be published.
March 31 was the deadline for candidates in this year’s primary to submit a petition in New Jersey. In the 7th U.S. House district, no Democrat succeeded in getting on the ballot. The law requires 200 signatures of registered party members. The only Democrat who tried, Janice Kovach, says the failure was due to a miscommunication. See this story.
Democrats can nominate someone at their June 3 primary by write-in vote. The winner must not only outpoll all other write-in candidates, but must obtain at least 200 write-in votes.
In the November 2012 election, the vote in this district was: Leonard Lance, Republican, 175,662; Upendra Chivukula, Democrat, 123,057; Dennis Breen, Independent Reform, 4,518; Patrick McKnight, Libertarian, 4,078. The district is in northern New Jersey and runs from the Delaware River to some outer suburbs of New York city. Thanks to William Fenwick for the link.
On March 31, U.S. District Court Judge Sue Robinson enjoined a Delaware campaign finance law passed in 2012. Delaware Strong Families v Biden, 1:13cv-1746. The law requires groups that spend at least $500 to comment on candidates for state office, to disclose the names of everyone who contributes at least $100 to that group.
If the law only concerned commentary that urges voters to vote for or against candidates, it probably would have not have been enjoined. But the Delaware law even applies to groups that publish neutral commentary or information about candidates. In this particular case, the group just wanted to publish a voter guide.
