On February 10, the Oklahoma House elected a new Speaker, Representative Jeff Hickman (R-Alva). In 2013, he was the lead sponsor of HB 2134, which lowered the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5% of the last vote cast, to exactly 5,000 signatures. His 2013 bill is still alive. During 2013, it passed the House Rules Committee but did not advance any further. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
On February 10, several groups that sponsor statewide initiatives filed a lawsuit against Michigan’s law that bans out-of-state circulators for petitioners. The case is Humane Society Legislative Fund v Ruth Johnson, eastern district, 2:14cv-10601. Here is the Complaint. Thanks to Paul Jacob for the link.
James J. Condit, Jr., has filed to appear on the Ohio Constitution Party primary ballot, for U.S. House, 8th district. Condit has run against House Speaker John Boehner twice in the past, and intends to do so again in 2014. See this story, which names all the candidates who filed in the 8th district for a spot on a primary ballot.
In November 2012, no one appeared on the ballot against Boehner, but Condit was a write-in candidate, polling 1,938 write-ins. In November 2010, Boehner had opponents from the Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution Parties. The November 2010 vote was: Republican 142,731; Democratic 65,883; Libertarian 5,121; Constitution 3,701.
Nebraska State Senator John Murante (R-Gretna) has introduced an omnibus election law bill, LB 1048. Among other provisions, it says a ballot-qualified party can dissolve itself if it files notice by November 1 of the year before an election. This provision is surely part of the bill because Americans Elect qualified for party status in Nebraska (and many other states) and then decided not to run any candidates.
New York city ballots in 2014 and future years will be easier to read than they were in 2013. See this story, which says the Board found a way to increase the font size of the names of candidates and parties. Thanks to Michael Drucker for the link.
