Public Policy Polling released this poll on July 25, surveying the major party presidential races. For the first time, Rand Paul is leading, although the Republican field is very splintered and no one has more than 16% support.
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Alabama’s state government has decided that the special election to fill the U.S. House seat, First District, will be either November 5, 2013, or December 17, 2013. The reason there are two alternative dates is that no one can know whether run-off primaries will be needed for either the Democratic or Republican Parties. If there is a run-off primary for either major party, then the election will be December 17.
Petitions for independent candidates, and for unqualified parties, are due September 24, which will also be the date of the first primary.
Although the state says 5,938 valid signatures are needed, binding case law from the 11th circuit establishes that states must reduce the number of signatures, or extend the deadline, when the normal petitioning period is not available. The normal petitioning period in Alabama is two years. In the case of this special election, the petitioning period started on June 29, 2013, and ends less than three months later, so if the state isn’t willing to extend the deadline, the state will almost certainly be required to reduce the number of signatures to approximately one-eighth of 5,938, because only one-eighth of the normal petitioning period exists.
Los Angeles County, California, keeps a running total of how many registered voters there are in each qualified party on its web page. See here.
Between July 7 and July 26, the number of registered voters in the county declined, probably because the county is doing a purge. The number of registered voters in each qualified party (except the Peace & Freedom Party) declined between those dates, and the number of registered independents also declined. However, the number of Peace & Freedom Party registrants increased by 2,594 voters. This is because the party is doing a registration drive.
On July 26, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said he will sign HB 589, the omnibus election law bill. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.
Antonio Sabas has become the first non-major party candidate to file to be on the October 16, 2013 ballot for U.S. Senate in New Jersey. His ballot label is “Freedom of Choice.” However, he only turned in 920 signatures, which could make him vulnerable to a petition challenge if anyone challenged him. The law requires 800 valid signatures. The petition deadline is August 13, 2013. His web page is antoniosabas.com. UPDATE: Sabas actually submitted approximately 1,400 signatures, even though the State Elections web page continues to show the 920 figure.
Meanwhile, Governor Chris Christie still has not acted on AB 4237, which the legislature sent to him on June 27. This bill moves the 2013 election for state office from November 5 to October 16. If the bill were signed, New Jersey taxpayers would save $12,000,000, because without the bill, there is a general special election in October and another general election in November.