This newspaper story describes the Wyoming Secretary of State’s reaction to the May 28 submission of a statewide referendum petition. The office says it will take five days just to count the signatures. Counting them is not the same as verifying them. The petition, if successful, will be the first statewide referendum petition success in Wyoming since 1996.
According to this story, Democratic legislators in Connecticut have drafted a bill to make it illegal for any party in Connecticut to be named “Independent Party.” If this proposed bill is ever signed into law, it seems likely that it would be held unconstitutional. The Independent Party of Connecticut has been very active starting in 2008. Currently it has ballot-qualified status for all statewide offices except President. It also has that status for U.S. House, 4th district; sixteen State Senate districts; and 39 State House districts.
There are ballot-qualified parties named “Independent Party”, besides Connecticut, in Delaware, Florida, and Oregon. In the past there have been such parties in Arkansas, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah. In 2012 a U.S. District Court struck down a Tennessee law that banned the name “Independent Party”, but the Sixth Circuit reversed that only because of standing; none of the plaintiff political parties were named “Independent Party.” Thanks to Joshua Van Vranken for the link.
On May 29, the 4th circuit agreed with the U.S. District Court that residency requirements for circulators are unconstitutional. The lawsuit concerned out-of-state circulators. The case is Libertarian Party of Virginia v Judd, 12-1996. Here is a copy of the 16-page decision. Virginia had vigorously argued that the plaintiff petitioner Darryl Bonner lacked standing, but the judges found that he did have standing. The state said since he injured his knee, he couldn’t have petitioned anyway, but the judges said he could have petitioned while sitting down, and pointed out that Bonner was able to attend his own deposition, notwithstanding the knee problem.
This is the first time a minor party has won a constitutional election law case in the Fourth Circuit since 1989 and 1988, when the Socialist Workers Party won two cases. The 1989 decision struck down Maryland’s filing fee for declared write-in candidates and was called Dixon v Maryland State Administrative Board of Election Laws. The 1988 decision struck down West Virginia’s mandatory language for independent and minor party candidate petitions, which said the signer intends to vote for the candidates listed on the petition; that was called Socialist Workers Party v Hechler. The Fourth Circuit consists of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. UPDATE: here is a lengthy AP news story about the decision.
On May 28, backers of a Wyoming referendum submitted their signatures. The referendum would repeal a law passed earlier this year by the legislature, which removes most significant power from the elected Superintendent of Public Instruction. The referendum requires 37,606 valid signatures. It is not known how many were turned in. The referendum was organized by Wyoming Constitution Party activists.
On May 28, Robert B. Reich, Labor Secretary for President Bill Clinton, posted a blog post on his own blog, “Why Democrats Can’t be Trusted to Control Wall Street.” The last line is, “Democrats can’t be trusted to control Wall Street. If there were ever an issue ripe for a third party, the Street would be it.”
