Maine not only requires a newly-qualifying party to submit a petition signed by 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, for full party status; the state also requires the group to then hold a town caucus in each of Maine’s sixteen counties. This article describes plans for the upcoming Americans Elect in South Portland. The expectation is that only two registered party members will attend.
Josh Goodman has this article in Governing Magazine, showing how state officials who have the authority to write the title and summary of ballot measures (determining what language appears on the ballot) sometimes abuse that power.
Although Goodman does not mention the instance of California’s Proposition 14, he might have done so. Proposition 14 was on the ballot in June 2010 in California, and it imposed the top-two system. The initiative was on the ballot as “Elections. Increases Right to Participate in Primary Elections.”
Mark Siegel, an expert in national party convention rules, has this column in Huffington Post, suggesting that if fewer than half the delegates at the Republican national convention are loyal to Mitt Romney, the convention credentials committee might very well unseat some of the Arizona and Florida delegates. National Republican Party rules forbid those two states to hold winner-take-all primaries because those two primaries were so early. But the state parties in those two states disregarded the national rules, and awarded Romney delegates all of the seats. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Mari Bennett, a well-known criminal defense attorney in Houston, Texas, recently said in his blog, “Defending People”, that he has decided to seek the Libertarian Party nomination for Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals, a statewide partisan judicial post. The American Bar Association Journal took note of the news. See here. The ABA Journal has a link to Bennett’s announcement.
Also, in Montana, Gerald J. McConnell has filed in the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate. He is a retired businessman with an impressive resume, and a Commissioner for Missoula Airport. Here is his resume. He will appear on the ballot as “Jerry McConnell.” Here is a newspaper story about his candidacy announcement. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.
Rob Richie has this article in the Huffington Post, showing that media assumptions that most of the Republican presidential primaries have been assigning delegates proportionately is not true. The article present hypothetical delegate counts so far if the voting were proportional in all Republican presidential primaries. The article has other insights as well, about the role of money, and whether or not the Republican Party is being damaged by having a vigorous contest for its nomination.
