New York Will Have Different 2014 Petition Deadlines for Independent Candidates for U.S. House Than for Other Office

New York state election law says independent candidate petitions are due 77 days before the general election. See section 6-158.9 of the Election Law. Nevertheless, for 2014, the State Board of Elections has set a petition deadline for U.S. House petitions that is two weeks earlier than the statutory deadline. See the Board’s calendar here.

Therefore, the U.S. House petitions will be due August 5. Other independent petitions are due August 19. New York has no U.S. Senate election in 2014.

All of this may change, if the legislature passes any bill to move primary dates. Currently, congressional primaries in 2014 will be on June 24 but primaries for other office are in September. This is confusing and wasteful. But it is difficult for any bill to get through the legislature changing these dates, because the Assembly prefers a June primary for everything, and the Senate prefers an August primary for everything. The reason there are different primary dates now for Congress versus other office is that the federal government sued New York to force it to hold a congressional primary earlier than the statutory September date. But the federal government has no authority to tell the state when to hold its primary for non-congressional office.

Oral Arguments Held in Arizona Lawsuit Over Whether U.S. Constitution Bars Independent Redistricting Commissions for Congress

On January 24, a 3-judge U.S. District Court heard arguments in Arizona State Legislature v Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, 2:12cv-1211. Arizona U.S. House district boundaries are drawn by an independent commission. The legislature filed the lawsuit to regain its old ability to draw the district lines. The legislature argues that Article One, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says that only state legislature can write election laws concerning congressional elections. See this article about the hearing.

Status of Arizona Bill to Repeal 2013 Omnibus Election Law Bill

According to this story, the scheduled hearing in the Arizona House Judiciary Committee on HB 2196 was postponed. HB 2196 is the bill to repeal the 2013 omnibus election law bill. That 2013 bill made many election law changes that are hostile both to minor parties, and to Democrats, and if the legislature doesn’t repeal it, the voters will vote on it in November 2014.