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California Constitutional Amendment to Eliminate Special Legislative Elections Advances

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2014

On April 23, the California Senate Elections Committee passed SCA 16, a proposed state constitutional amendment. The amendment says when there is a vacancy in the legislature, there won’t be a special election, and the Governor will appoint someone from the same party. If the empty seat had been held by an independent, the Governor can appoint anyone of any partisan affiliation.

The bill needed three votes in the 5-member Committee, and only received three votes. The chair of the Committee, Senator Norma Torres, did not vote for SCA 16, even though she is a Democrat and the sponsor of the amendment is the Democratic President Pro Tem of the Senate, Senator Darrell Steinberg. The bill needs a two-thirds vote in each House, and is unlikely to pass the full Senate.

Jeff Hewitt, a city councilmember in Calimesa, California, and a member of the Libertarian Party, testified against the bill, and his testimony was quoted in this Los Angeles Times story. Gale Morgan, vice-chair of the state Libertarian Party, also testified against the bill. No other organization sent witnesses to testify against the bill, although Californians for Electoral Reform sent a spokesperson to point out that since the rationale for the bill is to save money, money could be saved if special elections used Instant Runoff Voting, to avoid two-round elections.

South Carolina Supreme Court Will Hear Libertarian Case Over Nominations on April 24

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2014

On April 23, the South Carolina Supreme Court agreed to hear South Carolina Libertarian Party v South Carolina State Election Commission, 2014-000775. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 24.

The issue is the validity and meaning of SB 2, passed in 2013. It says that if parties want to nominate by convention, they must put that idea to a vote at the party’s primary. The legislature seemed to forget that all of South Carolina’s ballot-qualified parties already nominate by convention. Last year, the South Carolina Libertarian Party had asked the Election Commission to hold a primary for the party in 2014, but the Election Commission said that is too much work. The Attorney General then wrote an opinion saying obviously the 2013 bill was never intended to apply to parties that normally already nominate by convention.

A side issue is whether SB 2 is valid, given that the bill says it won’t go into effect until the U.S. Justice Department pre-clears the bill. A few weeks after the bill was signed into law, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Shelby County, Alabama v Holder, knocking out part of the federal Voting Rights Act, so the state then didn’t bother to ask for pre-clearance. However, under the literal language of the bill, the bill isn’t in effect, but the state is enforcing it.

Well-Known Hawaii Environmentalist Will Seek Libertarian Gubernatorial Nomination

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2014

Jeff Davis, a Hawaii radio host and environmentalist, will seek the Libertarian nomination for Governor. See this story. The primary is August 9. Davis only needs 25 signatures to get on the primary ballot.

New California Registration Data: The Only Two Parties with Fewer Members are the Democratic and Republican Parties

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Richard WingerApril 23, 2014

On April 22, the California Secretary of State released new voter registration data. The new data is as of April 4, 2014; the previous tally was for December 31, 2013. The new figures, compared to the previous tally, show that all five of California’s minor parties have more registrations than they had previously. Also the number of independent voters grew. But the Democratic Party and the Republican Party lost members.

The new figures are: Democratic 7,678,424; Republican 5,041,564; American Independent 472,536; Libertarian 114,656; Green 109,157; Peace & Freedom 77,594; Americans Elect 3,604, other parties 444,020 (this includes people who didn’t check any box); no party preference 3,718,931.

The Dec. 31, 2013 figures are: Democratic 7,695,907; Republican 5,073,380; American Independent 469,648; Libertarian 112,527; Green 108,785; Peace & Freedom 76,268; Americans Elect 3,482; other parties 421,600; no party preference 3,698,660.

There is no data for the Constitution Party or the Veterans Party, the only two unqualified parties that have re-filed to have their registrations tallied. That is because those two groups did not file the paperwork in time to be included in the new tally. But they will be included in the tally that comes out next month.

Incumbent New Mexico Legislator Removed from Primary Ballot Due to Failing to File 78 Valid Signatures

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Richard WingerApril 22, 2014

On April 21, a New Mexico state representative was removed from the June 3 primary ballot, because a court determined that her petition lacked the required 78 valid signatures. Sandra Jeff, a Democrat, submitted 91 signatures, but her petition was challenged, and found to include only 68 valid signatures. See this story.