California Legislature Acts on Election Law Bills

Posted on by August 9, 2013
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The California legislature is one of the few state legislatures that is still meeting. The session will end in September.

On August 8, the legislature passed AB 817, which lets adult residents who are not citizens work as polling place officials.

On August 12, the Assembly may vote on SB 213, which repeals all residency requirements for petitioners. If this bill is signed into law, that will moot two pending federal lawsuits.

On August 13, the Senate may vote on AB 1419, which moves the deadline for groups to qualify as parties, in presidential years, from January to July.

On August 19, the Senate Appropriations will hear AB 857, which requires state initiatives to use unpaid circulators for at least 20% of the required signatures. This bill also repeals all residency requirements for circulators.

Louisiana Sets Date for Upcoming Special U.S. House Election

Posted on by August 8, 2013
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Louisiana will hold a special election for U.S. House, Fifth district, on October 19. Candidates must qualify by paying a filing fee sometime between August 19 and August 21. The vacancy is due to the resignation of Congressman Rodney Alexander. The district is physically large and includes virtually all of northeast Louisiana.

In November 2012, the vote in this district was: Alexander, Republican, 202,536; independent candidate Ron Ceasar, 37,486; Libertarian Clay Grant, 20,194. Thanks to Randall Hayes for this news.

Colorado Libertarians, Plus One Democratic Candidate, Sue to Obtain More time to Submit Petitions in Two Special Elections

Posted on by August 8, 2013
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On August 7, the Colorado Libertarian Party, and a Democratic candidate, and a Libertarian candidate, jointly filed a lawsuit in state court to require the state to give more time for petitions, to get on the ballot in the September 10 recall elections. Colorado is holding recall elections on that date for State Senate district 3 (centered in Pueblo) and State Senate district 3 (Colorado Springs).

Colorado recalls work like California recalls. First the ballot asks the voter to decide whether to recall the office-holder. Below that, the ballot asks voters to vote for a new office-holder, in case the recall succeeds. To get on this part of the ballot, all candidates (including the individuals subject to the recall election) need 1,000 signatures. The State Constitution says such petitions are due 15 days before the election, but the Secretary of State is instead following a statute that contradicts the Constitution, and says the petitions are due 10 days after the Governor sets the date of the recall petition. Thus the petitions are due either on August 31 or on July 29, a significant difference.

The case is Libertarian Party of Colorado v Gessler, Denver district court, 13cv-33491. If the lawsuit does not succeed, the only candidates on the recall ballot in each district will be one Democrat (in each case, the office-holder subject to the recall) and one Republican. However, write-ins are allowed. The two Senators being recalled are Angela Giron in the Third District, and John Morse in the Eleventh District. Here is the complaint. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Alabama Democrats Miss Certification Deadline by One Hour, but Secretary of State Accepts Filings Anyway

Posted on by August 7, 2013
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The Alabama Democratic Party’s certification of its two primary candidates for the upcoming special election, U.S. House, First District, was an hour past the deadline. However, the Secretary of State accepted the filing anyway. See this story.

The Michigan Secretary of State refused to accept Gary Johnson’s 2011 withdrawal from the Republican presidential primary, even though Johnson was only three minutes late. That sad result harmed all the voters who wished to vote for Johnson in November, because he was kept off the November ballot and thus voters who wanted to vote for him had to cast a write-in vote. Thanks to David Schoen for the link. UPDATE: here is a newspaper story.