Former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun had submitted over 90,000 signatures to get on the Chicago ballot for Mayor, but her petitions had been challenged. However, on December 30, the challenge to her petition was rejected by the Chicago Board of Elections.
She has also gained politically over the weekend, because Congressman Danny K. Davis dropped out and endorsed her. See this story.
Tennessee Ticket, a blog about Tennessee politics, sums up political developments in that state during the last decade in this article. Toward the end it briefly discusses the 2010 decision that struck down that state’s ballot access laws for new and minor parties.
In 2010, the California Libertarian Party ran two candidates for U.S. House who have unambiguously Hispanic surnames. They are Edward Gonzalez, an elementary school director in San Jose; and Carlos A. Rodriguez, an immigration lawyer in San Fernando. Each had opponents from both major parties. Gonzalez, running in the 16th district, polled 7.88%. Rodriguez, running in the 28th district, polled 8.05%.
These two showings are the highest percentages received by California Libertarian candidates for U.S. House (excluding races in which only one major party ran anyone) since 1992.
On December 30, 2010, Virginia filed this response brief in Libertarian Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, the case pending in the 4th circuit over the requirement that only residents of a U.S. House district may circulate petitions for a candidate running in that district. Although the brief includes 23 pages of argument, it does not say what the state interest is in having this restriction. It merely asserts that the restriction is a ballot access restriction. But any discussion of the purpose of the restriction is missing.
The evidence in this case already shows that Virginia has never had more than 6 candidates on the general election ballot for U.S. House (in a regularly-scheduled election), even in the period 1896-1936 when independent and minor party candidates for U.S. House needed no signatures and no fee in order to get on the ballot. So, one reads the brief and wonders why does the state need to enforce a law that says a circulator can’t work if he or she doesn’t live in that district?
Three more Alaska legislators, one a Republican, and two Democrats, have told the press they intend to work for a change in the law on counting write-ins. Each of these legislators expressed the idea that write-ins that are spelled incorrectly should still be valid. See this story.
Another Alaska bill, which has not had publicity, will be introduced by Representative Max Gruenberg. His bill will ease the number of registered voters that a group needs to become a ballot-qualified party.
On December 29, Honolulu held a special non-partisan election to fill a vacant city council seat. Fourteen candidates ran. There is no provision for any run-off. The winner, Tom Berg, won with only 18.49% of the vote. See here for the election returns. Thanks to Brandon Henderson for the link.