Republican Who Switched to Independent Does Well in California Special Legislative Election

Posted on by July 24, 2013
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On July 23, California held a special legislative election, 52nd Assembly district, in San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties. The largest city in the district is Ontario, and Ontario’s Mayor, Paul Leon, who is a registered independent, is running first. Leon was a registered Republican until May 31, 2013, when he switched to independent and simultaneously filed to run for Assembly. He had run as a Republican in another special election earlier this year, for State Senate, and had placed second in the primary and then lost the run-off to a Democrat.

The San Bernardino County Republican Party gave $9,000 to Leon’s Assembly campaign, and yet the county party endorsed the only Republican in the race, Dorothy Pineda. Besides Leon and Pineda, the race has seven Democrats.

As this post is being written, it is too early to tell who will place second. From the preliminary returns, it will probably be Democrat Freddie Rodriguez, but it is possible the Republican, Pineda, will place second. There will be a run-off in two months. If the run-off is between Rodriguez and Leon, then Rodriguez will probably win, because the district is strongly Democratic. The registration data for the district is 47.5% Democratic and only 26.7% Republican. Here is a link to the unofficial returns on the California Secretary of State’s page. As the evening progresses, more and more votes will be tallied.

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Campaign Finance Case on October 8, 2013

Posted on by July 23, 2013
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The U.S. Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in McCutcheon v Federal Election Commission, 12-536, on October 8, 2013. This is the case in which the Republican Party and Shaun McCutcheon challenge the federal law that limits how much an individual may contribute to all federal candidates in any two-year period. The lower courts had upheld the law. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.

North Carolina Senate Amends Omnibus Election Law Bill to Repeal State Income Tax Check-off for Political Parties

Posted on by July 23, 2013
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On July 22, the North Carolina Senate amended HB 589, an omnibus election law bill, to include a repeal of public funding for judicial candidates, and a repeal of the state income-tax checkoff that lets taxpayers send a small donation to the political party of the taxpayer’s choice. The bill already contained many other provisions that will make the voting process more difficult for many voters. See this article, describing many of the provisions of the bill.

The bill also revises ballot access for presidential primaries. Current law requires a presidential candidate to have qualified for primary season matching funds, in order to be on a presidential primary ballot without having to submit a petition. The bill would provide that any candidate generally discussed in national news media should be on the presidential primary ballot, regardless of whether he or she has qualified for primary season matching funds.

The bill repeals the straight-ticket device. It also changes the order of parties on the ballot. Current law says that parties with registration of at least 5% are on the ballot in alphabetical order of the party name, which means the Democratic Party is always listed first. The bill changes that, so that among parties with registration of at least 5%, the party that last elected the Governor is listed first.

The bill makes it somewhat easier for a candidate to get on a primary ballot without paying a filing fee. Current law requires 10,000 signatures for statewide office, for candidates who don’t wish to pay the filing fee. If the candidate is a member of a newly-qualifying party, in order to avoid the filing fee the candidate needs either 10,000 signatures of any registered voters (regardless of party membership) or 10% of party members, whichever is greater. The bill lowers the 10,000 signatures for newly-qualifying parties to 8,000 signatures or 5% of party members. For district office, current law is at 10% and 200 signatures, but the bill lowers the 10% to 5%. The only practical difference this change makes is that, if the bill passes, it lessens the burden for members of new parties who want to run for U.S. House and who wish to avoid the filing fee.

The bill is expected to pass in the next two days, before the legislature adjourns.