Ohio Independent Candidate for Legislature Kept Off Ballot Because of his Political Behavior

Posted on by August 24, 2012
2

On August 15, U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith denied ballot access to Greg V. Jolivette, an independent candidate for Ohio state house, 51st district. Jolivette had enough valid signatures, but he was still kept off the ballot because election officials, and the judge, believe he had too many ties to the Republican Party. Here is the decision in Jolivette v Husted, southern district, 2:12-cv-603.

Jolivette is not a sore loser and he did not even vote in the Republican primary, but the judge used Jolivette’s recent close ties with the Republican Party to rule against him. Ohio has the nation’s vaguest law on who can or cannot be an independent candidate. In Ohio, the voter registration form does not ask a candidate to choose a party (or independent status), so there is no concrete method to determine someone’s party membership (or independent status) except the record of whether the candidate votes in a party primary. But even though Jolivette didn’t vote in the Republican primary, he is still tagged as a Republican, against his will. The candidate is appealing to the 6th circuit, which is expediting the case. All briefs will be in by August 31.

Independence Party of New York Seems Secretive About its Presidential Nomination Event

Posted on by August 23, 2012
4

New York state law requires ballot-qualified parties to choose their presidential elector candidates no later than September 10 this year. The New York Independence Party state chair, Frank MacKay, had previously said that the Independence Party of New York will choose a presidential candidate on September 24. However, a date that late is not permitted. Parties that engage in fusion for president must coordinate their choice of presidential elector candidates with the major party that is running the same presidential candidate; the two lists must be identical.

Repeated inquiries to chairman McKay about the actual date of the selection have gone unanswered. Perhaps someone reading this blog post knows the answer, or has some suggestions on how to obtain the answer.

California State Senate Passes Bill for Election-Day Voter Registration

Posted on by August 23, 2012
1

On August 23, the California State Senate passed AB 1436, the bill to permit individuals to register to vote on election day. The bill has been amended since it passed the Assembly, so now it goes back to the Assembly. The election-day registration could only be carried out at a county elections office, not at the local polling place. If signed into law, it would not take effect until 2016, when the state’s computerized voter registration records would be organized more usefully.

U.S. District Court Will Hear Case on Pennsylvania Challenge-Fee System on September 11

Posted on by August 23, 2012
3

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Stengel will hear oral arguments in Constitution Party v Aichele on September 11, Tuesday, at 10 a.m, in Philadelphia. This is the case that maintains that Pennsylvania’s system for checking petitions violates U.S. Supreme Court precedents going back to the early 1960’s, that voters and candidates can’t be forced to pay to participate in elections. The plaintiffs are asking for an injunction, or a restraining order, against any attempt by Pennsylvania to force the petitioning parties to pay as much as $100,000 if the petition-review process finds that the petition doesn’t have enough valid signatures.