Opponents of Instant Runoff Voting have not prevailed this year, in their attempts to persuade Oakland, California, to abandon it. See this story. The city council will not repeal it, and the opponents’ plans to circulate an initiative to repeal it have been called off.
On April 27, Gary Johnson expects to file evidence with the Federal Election Commission that he has qualified for primary season matching funds. The law requires contributions of at least $5,000 from at least 20 states. Individual contributions can be as high as $2,500, but only the first $250 of any individual’s contribution counts toward the matching funds requirement. Johnson believes he has met the threshold in 23 states. If his application is approved, he will be the second person to receive such funding this year. Buddy Roemer is the first.
Candidates who are seeking the nomination of a party may use the funds for ballot access for the general election. The FEC considers the petitioning process to be the equivalent of other activities that also involve the nominating process. Minor party presidential candidates in past elections who have received federal matching funds include Sonia Johnson of the Citizens Party in 1984; Lenora Fulani of the New Alliance Party in 1988 and 1992; John Hagelin of the Natural Law Party in 1992, 1996, and 2000; Ralph Nader in 2000, 2004, and 2008; and Pat Buchanan in 2000.
Jill Stein is also seeking federal funds this year.
The District of Columbia Board of Elections has counted the write-in votes cast for Roseanne Barr in the April 3 Green Party presidential primary. She received 73 write-ins. Jill Stein, the only candidate whose name was on the ballot for President, received 216 votes. There were also 27 write-in candidates for other candidates. The Board hasn’t yet posted the write-ins on its web page, but it will soon.
The Board also counted write-ins in the Green Party primary for certain other offices. Yet the Board has been maintaining ever since 2008 that it is too much trouble to count the Libertarian write-ins in the general election for President, even though Bob Barr was the only declared write-in presidential candidate.
On April 25, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed HB 1058. The bill now goes to a conference committee, because the version the House passed last year is different than the Senate version. The House version is much better. It lowers the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties to exactly 22,500. The Senate version keeps the same petition requirement as the existing law, in presidential election years; but it lowers the number of signatures in mid-term years. Existing law requires signatures of 5% of the last vote cast, but the Senate version changes this to 5% of the last gubernatorial vote cast. Oklahoma, like most states, elects its Governors in midterm years.
If the Senate version had been law in the past, the number of signatures in 2010 would have been 46,324 signatures. In reality, the requirement was 73,134. So, the improvement in midterm years is very significant. However, it is disappointing that the Senate version offers no improvement whatsoever in presidential years. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this news.
On April 24, the Connecticut legislature tabled HB 5024, the bill that would have made it possible for voters to register at the polls on election day. Thanks to Josh Van Vranken for this news.
