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.
According to the bottom part of this article, former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann is considering running for Governor of Hawaii this year as an independent candidate. A poll suggests that 39% of the voters would consider voting for him if he did that. Hannemann was elected Mayor of Honolulu in a non-partisan election in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. He is of German and Samoan extraction and is six feet seven inches in height.
If he does run, he only needs 25 valid signatures, but must run in the open primary and must outpoll at least one gubernatorial candidate who won the nomination of a qualified party, or at least 10% of the total primary vote, whichever is less. If a Libertarian or a Green runs for Governor, Hannemann is virtually certain to pass the primary vote test, because relatively few voters choose a Libertarian primary ballot or a Green primary ballot. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
On February 18, the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee held a hearing on SB 1091, a bill to lower the number of signatures for statewide minor party candidates from 40,042 signatures (2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote) to exactly 1,000 signatures. Daniel Lewis of the Libertarian Party and Jerry Pangle of the Constitution Party spoke in favor of the bill, as did the sponsor, Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis). SB 1091 was introduced last year; Tennessee has two-year legislative sessions.
Committee members hinted they might pass this bill if the number of signatures was increased from 1,000 signatures to 2,500 signatures. The author will prepare an amendment to make that change, and the bill will then be heard again, on February 25. Thanks to Daniel Lewis and Mike Warner for this news.
