North Carolina State Board of Elections Lets Independent Candidate Use Electronic Signatures

Posted on by July 4, 2012
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Recently, the North Carolina State Board of Elections told an independent candidate that he may help complete his petition with electronic signatures. Omar Beasley, a candidate for Durham County Commissioner, needed 7,437 valid signatures by June to get on the ballot this year. He succeeded, and some of his signatures came from using Echosign.com, which is a service mostly used for business contracts.

Beasley is running for an at-large seat. Five seats are up. His only opponents will be the five Democratic Party nominees. See this story about the campaign. Oddly, the story doesn’t mention Beasley’s precedent-breaking use of electronic petitioning. Thanks to Sean Haugh for this news.

Los Angeles County Finishes Counting Write-in Votes in June Primary; Republican Qualifies for November Ballot for U.S. House Race

Posted on by July 4, 2012
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Los Angeles County, California, has now finished tallying write-in votes for declared write-in candidates in the June 5, 2012 primary. In the U.S. House race, 37th district, there had been only one name on the primary ballot, incumbent Karen Bass, a Democrat. Therefore, whichever declared write-in candidate polled the most votes in this district would place second, and would appear on the November ballot. Three write-in candidates filed, a Republican, a Peace & Freedom member, and a Libertarian. The Republican received the most write-ins.

Republican Morgan Osborne got 36 write-ins; Peace & Freedom member Adam Shbeita received eight; Libertarian Sean McGary received four. Here is a link to all the Los Angeles County write-ins from the June primary for federal and state office.

This means that no minor party member will appear on the November ballot for any of California’s 53 U.S. House races. This is the first California election since 1966 with no minor party members on the November ballot for either house of Congress.

In state legislative races, the only minor party members who will be on the November ballot will be three Peace & Freedom members. All three were write-in candidates in the primary, and in all three races only one person, a Democrat, appeared on the primary ballot. The three Peace & Freedom Party members are Mary McIlroy for State Senate, 9th district (Berkeley); Eugene Ruyle for Assembly, 15th district (Berkeley); and Lee Chauser, State Senate, 33rd district (Los Angeles).

U.S. District Court in New Jersey Strikes Down One-Year Duration of Residency Requirement for Legislative Candidates in Redistricting Years

Posted on by July 4, 2012
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On June 26, a U.S. District Court in New Jersey ruled that a one-year duration of residency inside a district violates the U.S. Constitution, as applied to an election that occurs immediately after redistricting. Robertson v Bartels, cv-01-2024. Here is the opinion.

This same court had made a similar ruling in 2002, and had enjoined the state from enforcing the one-year duration of residency requirement. But a few months ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the federal court injunction is no longer binding. But, the federal court has just said the injunction is still binding, but only for elections that immediately follow redistricting. Thanks to Justin Levitt of Election Law Blog for the link.

Mexico Presidential Election Results; Winner in Preliminary Count Wins with 38.15% of Total Vote

Posted on by July 4, 2012
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On July 1, Mexico held presidential and congressional elections. Although Mexico uses proportional representation for the lower chamber of its national legislative body, for President it holds a winner-take-all election with no run-off. The preliminary results are: Institutional Revolutionary Party nominee Enrique Pena Nieto, 18,727,398; Party of the Democratic Revolution, Andrews Manuel Lopez Obrador, 15,535,117; National Action Party, Josefina Vazquez Mota, 12,473,106; New Alliance Party, Gabriel Quadri, 1,129,108. There were also 1,191,067 blank or invalid votes, and 31,660 write-ins.

The New Alliance Party seems to be very much like the Libertarian Party of the United States. Its presidential nominee seemed to favor legalization of at least some illegal drugs, same-sex marriage, fewer restrictions on abortion, and selling 49% of Pemex to private investors. Pemex is the government-owned oil company.

Here is the wiki page about the election, including information on the congressional elections as well. To see an interactive map which shows the vote for president by state, go to www.ife.org.mx. Click on the “Mapa con Resultados Electorales Preliminares.”

There will be recounts in approximately one-third of the precincts, which is normal procedure.

Arizona Top-Two Open Primary Initiative to be Submitted on July 5

Posted on by July 4, 2012
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On July 5, Arizona advocates of a top-two open primary initiative will submit their petitions to the Secretary of State. They need 259,213 valid signatures and say they have, or will have, about 340,000. The proponents call their initiative the “Open Government/Open Primary” measure, although there is no obvious connection between “open government” and type of primary system. To most people, “open government” means that government decisions are made in public and adhere to a freedom of information principle.

Even the use of “open primary” is misleading. “Open primary” has been defined in political science textbooks since 1907 as a system, pioneered by Wisconsin in 1907, that provide for partisan nominations and partisan primaries, but lets any voter on primary day choose any party’s primary ballot. By contrast, in a top-two system, there are no partisan primary ballots and no party nominees.

Current vocabulary about primary systems is in disarray, however. Current law in Arizona lets independent voters choose any party’s primary ballot on primary day. In 2004, when a top-two open primary initiative was on the ballot in California, Senator John McCain of Arizona endorsed it. He said, “We have an open primary in Arizona and it’s working well.” So, at least in 2004, Senator McCain considered that Arizona already had an open primary. Actually, the primary system Arizona has now is generally referred to in political science books as a “semi-closed” (or, sometimes, “semi-open”) primary.