On May 10, the Oregon Secretary of State determined that the Americans Elect petition for party status has enough valid signatures. Thanks to Dan Meek for this news.
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U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson has set a hearing date for Justice Party & Constitution Party v Bowen, the California lawsuit that challenges the January deadline for newly-qualifying parties to finish qualifying for the ballot. The judge expedited the case. The hearing is at 1:30 p.m. on May 21. The case is Justice Committee and Constitution Party v Bowen, central district, 2:12-cv-3956.
On May 9, the Alabama ballot access improvement bill, SB 15, passed the House Constitution and Elections Committee by a unanimous vote. The bill cuts the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties, and independent candidates, from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5%. It has no effect on the presidential independent procedure, which is already substantially easier than the other types of petition. See this story.
On May 8, A new Federal Election Commission opinion draft was issued concerning whether contributors to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein’s campaign may make new contributions to her, even if they had already given her the maximum amount allowed by law. The draft says that such contributors may give again. However, this only applies to contributions which either never went into Feinstein’s campaign bank account, or contributions which were deposited into Feinstein’s bank account and then removed again by the Treasurer.
As been reported previously, Feinstein’s campaign treasurer embezzled millions of dollars from Feinstein’s campaign account. The treasurer was also campaign treasurer for many other California Democrats, and funds intended for some candidates were frequently transferred to bank accounts for other campaigns, before being embezzled.
The draft represents a change in the original draft. The FEC is likely to approve the new draft at its May 10 meeting. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for the link.
North Carolina held a presidential primary on May 8 for the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties. The State Board of Elections web page has unofficial results, but it is not easy to link to the presidential results.
As of 11:30 p.m. eastern time, the Democratic results are: President Obama 757,195; no preference 198,903.
The Republican results are: Mitt Romney 632,978; Ron Paul 106,749; Rick Santorum 100,404; Newt Gingrich 73,691; no preference 50,174.
The Libertarian results are: Gary Johnson 1,477; Roger Gary 638; R. J. Harris 606; Lee Wrights 328; Carl Person 269; Bill Still 219; no preference 4,658.
This is the first time North Carolina has ever conducted a presidential primary for a party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. Because the Libertarian Party has already nominated its ticket, the primary is odd. The California Libertarian Party will also be having a presidential primary, on June 5.