On February 19, the Alabama House Constitution and Elections Committee passed HB 327, which lowers the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.
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On February 19, the 7th circuit heard oral argument in Stone v Board of Election Commissioners for Chicago, 13-2733. The three judges are William J. Bauer (a Ford appointee), Joel Flaum (a Reagan appointees), and David Hamilton (an Obama appointee). The issue is whether the plaintiffs may have a trial to demonstrate that the 12,500 signature requirement for candidates for citywide office in Chicago is too onerous.
The hearing can be heard using this link. It lasts almost 32 minutes. The case against the 12,500 requirement is tough to win, because in 2011, six candidates for Mayor appeared on the ballot. However, for City Treasurer, only one candidate managed to comply, leaving voters with no real choice. Also, in 2007, there was only one candidate on the ballot for City Treasurer. All Chicago city elections are non-partisan.
According to this story, no one successfully qualified to appear on either major party primary ballot in Ohio’s State House district 88. However, as the story explains, various individuals can file as write-in candidates in one of the primaries. Thanks to Andrew for the link.
This Ohio newspaper story reports that Martin “Buck” Elsass failed to get on the Ohio Libertarian primary ballot for State House, even though only 25 signatures are required. The Elsass petition carried the names of at least 25 registered voters, but a technical error invalidated some of those signatures.
The story does not mention this point, but Elsass might still qualify for the November ballot if he can get 25 write-ins in the Libertarian primary on May 6.
On February 19, U.S. Senator Rand Paul testified in Frankfort in a State Senate Committee hearing, in favor of HB 70. The proposal, if passed by the legislature, would ask the voters if they wish to amend the State Constitution to let most ex-felons register to vote. The bill would exclude ex-felons who had been convicted of murder, treason, bribery, or certain sex crimes.
The bill has already passed the House, and with Senator Paul’s support, will probably pass the Senate. The House has a Democratic majority but the Senate has a Republican majority. See this story.