Nevada Supreme Court Upholds Two-Year Residency Requirement for Candidates for State Controller

Posted on by April 27, 2014
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On April 14, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a four-page decision in Schaefer v The Eighth Judicial District Court, 65361, upholding Nevada election law that requires candidates for Controller to have lived in the state for two years before filing. Use this link to read the decision. Under “docket entries”, click on document 14-11950 (that number is found at the far right-hand column in the line for April 14).

Although the plaintiff, Michael Schaefer, had held a continuous residence in Nevada for many years, the lower court found that he had been domiciled in California or Maryland during most of the preceding two years. The lower court, and the State Supreme Court, also ruled that the two-year residency requirement does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

Many Statewide California Candidates Fail to Place Statement in Official Voter Information Guide

Posted on by April 27, 2014
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A handful of states, including California, send pamphlets to all registered voters in advance of an election that include information about candidates for state office. The California Official Voter Information Guide has been mailed to all registered voters. Surprisingly, 40% of the candidates for one of the seven partisan statewide offices did not submit a statement for this booklet. Candidates must pay $25 per word for their statements, but that is a bargain, considering that the booklet is send to approximately 17,700,000 voters.

Some incumbents who are running for re-election did not submit a statement: Jerry Brown for Governor, Gavin Newson for Lieutenant Governor, and Kamala Harris for Attorney General. Also, some major party candidates who are thought likely to either win, or at least place second, also did not submit a statement: John A. Perez (current speaker of the Assembly) for Controller, Greg Conlon (the only Republican for Treasurer), Phil Wyman (the Republican for Attorney General who has the most name recognition of any Republican running for that office).

All the minor party candidates for statewide office submitted candidate statements, except for Jena Goodman, the Green running for Lieutenant Governor. To read the candidate statements, use this link.

Seventh Circuit Upholds Requirement that Candidates for Chicago Citywide Office Submit 12,500 Signatures

Posted on by April 26, 2014
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On April 25, the Seventh Circuit upheld Chicago’s ballot access, that candidates for citywide office need 12,500 signatures. Other restrictions are that the signatures must be gathered within 90 days and that no one can sign for more than one candidate for a particular office.

Chicago holds non-partisan elections for its own offices. Here is the 15-page decision in Stone v Board of Election Commissioners, 13-2733.

Senator Rand Paul Initially Denies Ever Having Endorsed a Libertarian Party Nominee, but Admits Error After Being Reminded of 1988

Posted on by April 26, 2014
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According to this story, U.S. Senator Rand Paul was asked by a member of the audience if he would support the Libertarian Party nominee in 2016 if he doesn’t get the Republican nomination. Paul said that he expected to support the Republican nominee and said he had never endorsed a Libertarian Party nominee. But the questioner then reminded him that he had indeed endorsed Ron Paul, the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1988, and Paul at that point acknowledged this point.

Rand Paul was 25 in 1988. He attended the Seattle national convention of the Libertarian Party (held in September 1987) and worked on his father’s presidential campaign that year.