This story reveals that many U.S. House candidates in New York have had their primary ballot access petitions challenged this year. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.
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On April 21, the Constitution Party nominated Virgil Goode for President, on the first ballot. He is the first Constitution Party presidential nominee to have held important elected office.
The vote was: Virgil Goode 203, Darrell Castle 120, Robby Wells 58, Susan Ducey 15, Laurie Roth 6. Delegates from 35 states cast votes.
Castle carried Arizona, Indiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. Wells carried Illinois and West Virginia. Ducey carried her home state of Kansas. Roth did not carry any states, and got most of her votes from Michigan. All states not mentioned were either carried by Virgil Goode, or had ties. Thanks to Nancy Chiasson for the vote detail. UPDATE: Jim Clymer of Pennsylvania, the party’s outgoing national chair, is the Vice-Presidential nominee.
Southern California hosts two minor party presidential debates this weekend.
On Sunday, April 22, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the four Peace & Freedom Party presidential candidates will debate each other at the Westside Peace Center, 3916 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. They are Stewart Alexander, Rocky Anderson, Stephen Durham, and Peta Lindsay. The Peace & Freedom Party asked the Secretary of State to list all four of these candidates on its presidential primary ballot this year. So far the Secretary of State has resisted putting Lindsay on the ballot. A U.S. District Court will decide on April 26 whether to add Lindsay to the ballot.
A multi-party presidential debate is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Echo Park United Methodist Church, 1226 N. Alvarado St., Los Angeles. All four of the Peace & Freedom Party candidates will participate. Also, the three Green Party presidential candidates who are on the California Green Party presidential primary will participate. They are Roseanne Barr, Kent Mesplay, and Jill Stein. Also, James Ogle, who is seeking the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, will participate. Thanks to Casey Peters for this news.
On April 20, the Arizona Supreme Court issued this unanimous 31-page opinion in Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v Brewer, cv-11-0313. Arizona has an independent redistricting commission composed of two Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent. On October 26, 2011, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer removed the chair of the Commission, Colleen Mathis. The Arizona Constitution permits a Governor to remove a member of the commission for gross misconduct, if two-thirds of the Senate agree. On November 1, 2011, two-thirds of the Senate did agree with the Governor’s action.
The Commission then sued the Governor, and the State Supreme Court ruled that the removal was unlawful. Now the Court has explained the basis for its ruling.
California is the only state in which candidates for public office list their occupations on the ballot. According to this story, five California state legislators who are running for re-election this year chose an occupation (for listing on the ballot) other than one that refers to their employment as state legislators.