California Senate Passes Bill Requiring Statewide Initiatives to Use Volunteers for 10% of Signatures

Posted on by September 11, 2013
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On September 10, the California Senate passed AB 857, a bill to require that statewide initiative petitions are not valid unless at least 10% of the signatures were collected by unpaid volunteers. The bill has been amended since it passed the Assembly, so it needs to return to the Assembly for another vote. The legislature will adjourn for the year on September 12 or September 13.

If the bill is enacted and signed into law, it is certain that it will be challenged in court. In 1988, in Meyer v Grant, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s law banning paid circulators. The decision was unanimous. The basis for the decision is that banning paid circulators makes it very difficult for initiatives to qualify. If AB 857 required 1% or 2% of the signatures to be collected by volunteers, it could probably be upheld, but it seems unlikely that 10% will survive a court test. The bill originally required 20%, but on September 6 was amended to 10%.

Tennessee Files Brief, Defending Petition Requirement for New Parties of 40,042 Signatures

Posted on by September 11, 2013
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On September 9, the Tennessee state government filed this brief in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, which is pending in the Sixth Circuit. The issue is mainly whether the law requiring newly-qualifying parties to submit 40,042 valid signatures is constitutional. Another issue in the case is whether it is constitutional to mandate that the two largest parties are entitled to the top lines on general election ballots.

The state’s brief doesn’t explain why the state requires so many signatures for newly-qualifying parties. Tennessee requires only 25 signatures for independent candidates, and no filing fee. Independent candidate ballot access in Tennessee is easier than in any other state. Clearly Tennessee is not afraid of a crowded general election ballot. So, one wonders, why is Tennessee so strict on having new or minor parties on the ballot?

The state’s brief also does not acknowledge the fact that before 1961, Tennessee required no petition whatsoever for a party to qualify for the ballot.

Justice Party National Steering Committee to Meet

Posted on by September 10, 2013
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The Justice Party has a meeting via conference call for members of its National Steering Committee, on October 5, 2013, to discuss the party’s future. The party only polled 43,018 votes for President in 2012, and it is only ballot-qualified currently in Florida, Mississippi, and Vermont. However, it won two ballot access cases (in California and Vermont) and has a third pending in Hawaii.

The party had some publicity recently in Wyoming. This Star-Tribune story mentions that a Justice Party activist has moved to Wyoming and hopes to organize the party in that state.

New Los Angeles County Registration Data

Posted on by September 10, 2013
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The California Secretary of State does not furnish any statewide registration tallies in odd years, except for one near the beginning of the year. But Los Angeles County keeps a running tally, which is available at any time on the county’s web page.

The September 10 registration tally for Los Angeles County shows that the total number of registered voters is virtually the same as it was on July 7. The number of independent voters has declined, but the number of registered voters in the Peace & Freedom, American Independent, and Libertarian Parties has increased. The other four qualified parties dropped. The number of voters in unqualified parties, which is combined with the number of voters who ignore the question about party membership, has increased.

The September 10 totals for Los Angeles County are: Democratic 2,454,773; Republican 1,032,775; American Independent 108,275; Peace & Freedom 31,838; Libertarian 25,882; Green 24,473; Americans Elect 2,471; declines to state 854,712; miscellaneous parties and also voters who leave the question blank 290,557; total 4,825,756.

The July 7 totals were: Democratic 2,458,609; Republican 1,036,437; American Independent 108,031; Peace & Freedom 28,560; Libertarian 25,739; Green 24,521; Americans Elect 2,495; declines to state 860,723; miscellaneous parties and also voters who leave the form blank 280,092; total 4,825,207.

New Jersey Governor Vetoes Bill to Move 2013 Election from November 5 to October 16

Posted on by September 10, 2013
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On the afternoon of September 9, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed AB 4237, a bill that the legislature had passed in June. The bill moved the state election (for 2013 only) from November 5 to October 16. Since the Governor already set the special U.S. Senate election for October 16, moving the election for state office would have saved $12,000,000 in election administration costs. September 9 was the deadline for the Governor to act. If he had done nothing, the bill would have taken effect.

The veto message said that voters would be confused if the state election were moved from November to October. Of course, if he had signed it soon after it passed, there would have been ample opportunity to educate voters that there was only going to be one election this year, in October. See this story.