Tenth Circuit Agrees with U.S. District Court that New Mexico Contribution Limits on Political Committees Are Likely Invalid

Posted on by December 19, 2013
1

On December 18, the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Republican Party of New Mexico v King, 12-2015. The opinion agrees with the U.S. District Court, that New Mexico cannot limit individual contributions to most political committees, if those political committees will use the money to make independent expenditures for or against a candidate for state office. Even though the first-named plaintiff is the New Mexico Republican Party, this opinion only concerns contribution limits made to political committees that are not political parties. The plaintiffs that essentially won this case are New Mexicans for Economic Recovery PAC and New Mexico Turn Around.

This decision continues the trend in federal courts to give more protection to PACs than political parties receive. The opinion suggests that parties have fewer rights than other political committees. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Ninth Circuit Will Hear Peace & Freedom Presidential Primary Case on February 13, 2014

Posted on by December 18, 2013
4

The Ninth Circuit has scheduled oral arguments in Peace & Freedom Party v Bowen for Thursday, February 13, in San Francisco. The issue is whether the Secretary of State should have listed Peta Lindsay on the party’s presidential primary ballot in 2012. Lindsay is under age 35.

The issue of whether California should print the names of candidates on the ballot who don’t meet the constitutional qualifications is very confused. In 2012, the California Court of Appeals ruled in Fuller v Bowen, 203 Cal App 4th 1476, that election officials do not have the authority to judge the qualifications of candidates for state legislature. The court said the Secretary of State was correct to list a particular Republican candidate for State Senate on the ballot, even though he admitted he had not lived in the district for a full year before filing. The court said only the legislature can judge the qualifications of candidates.

Also, in 2010, the same California Court of Appeals ruled that the Secretary of State should not investigate the qualifications of candidates for president. The decision in Keyes v Bowen, 189 Cal App 4th 647, says, “With respect to general elections, section 6901 directs that the Secretary of State must place on the ballot the names of the several political parties’ candidates.” The word “must” is in italics.

Yet in the Peace & Freedom case, the U.S. District Court ruled that because Lindsay admits she does not meet the qualifications, the Secretary of State was correct to keep her off the ballot. Long ago, in 1892, California printed the name of the Prohibition Party’s vice-presidential nominee on the ballot even though he was under age 35. Also, in 1972, the California Secretary of State permitted Linda Jenness to be a qualified write-in presidential candidate, even though she was under age 35.

Fair Elections Legal Network Makes Case for Allowing Provisional Ballots to be Cast Outside of Voter’s Home Precinct

Posted on by December 18, 2013
1

Approximately half the states require that provisional ballots must be cast in the voter’s home precinct, whereas the other half of the states allow the ballot to be cast in other polling places. The Fair Elections Legal Network has published an eight-page study that makes the case for allowing provisional ballots to be cast outside of the home precinct. The Fair Elections Legal Network was founded in 2006, and it serves as a resource for voters and activists who work for voters to increase the ease of voting. This particular report is authored by Jon Sherman, formerly a staff attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Office in Atlanta. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Virginia Attorney General Race Settles

Posted on by December 18, 2013
1

On December 18, the Republican nominee for Attorney General of Virginia will announce formally that he is calling off any further proceedings in the recount. The November 5, 2013 election showed that the Democratic nominee had won by fewer than 200 votes, but the recall so far has increased the Democratic lead to approximately 850 votes. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

Alabama U.S. House Special Election Results

Posted on by December 18, 2013
1

On December 17, Alabama held a special election for U.S. House, First District. Although independent candidate James Hall put up a strong legal fight to win a spot on the ballot, he was not on the ballot. The only two candidates on the ballot were Republican Bradley Byrne and Democrat Burton LeFlore. With a few precincts still not reporting from Mobile County, the vote was: Byrne 32,506; LeFlore 13,989.

When this district had last voted, in November 2012, Jo Bonner, the Republican incumbent, had been the only name on the ballot. He had polled 196,374 votes, with 4,302 miscellaneous write-ins for others.

It is startling that the new member of Congress from the First District was elected with only 32,506 votes, plus the few that remain to be counted. Turnout was exceptionally low for a U.S. House election.