California Legislative Committee to Hear Bill that Alters Top-Two System

Posted on by April 23, 2013
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The California Assembly Elections Committee will hear ACA 10 and AB 1075 on Tuesday, April 23. The hearing starts at 1:30 p.m. ACA 10 and AB 1075 change the top-two system. They provide that if a candidate for partisan state office receives at least 60% of the total vote in the June primary, then that candidate is elected, and the office will not appear on the November ballot. The sponsor is Assemblymember Kristen Olsen (R-Modesto).

Here is the analysis of the ACA 10, prepared by the Committee’s staff. If the bill passes, then the voters would vote on it in June 2014.

Peace & Freedom Party Files Opening Brief in Presidential Primary Case Involving Peta Lindsay

Posted on by April 23, 2013
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On April 22, the Peace & Freedom Party filed its opening brief in the Ninth Circuit in Peace & Freedom Party v Bowen, 13-15085. The issue is whether the California Secretary of State exceeded her authority when she deleted Peta Lindsay’s name from the list of 2012 presidential primary candidates submitted to her by the Peace & Freedom Party. The Secretary of State did so because Lindsay didn’t meet the constitutional qualifications to be President.

The brief cites the Twentieth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that Congress shall determine whether presidential candidates are qualified at the time Congress counts the electoral votes. The brief also mentions that when John McCain’s qualifications were challenged (on the basis that he was born in Panama), the Secretary of State took the position that she cannot judge presidential qualifications. Finally, the brief points out that there is no California law authorizing the Secretary of State to review the constitutional qualifications of candidates whose party wants their names printed on its presidential primary ballot.

Public Policy Poll for South Carolina Has Evidence that Green Party Candidates Don’t Necessarily Injure Democratic Candidates

Posted on by April 22, 2013
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On April 22, Public Policy Polling released this poll for the special election in South Carolina’s first U.S. House district. The overall poll shows these results: Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch 50%, Republican Mark Sanford 41%, Green Eugene Platt 3%, undecided 6%.

Most significant is the question that sorts these responses, depending on how the respondent voted for President in November 2012. Only 1% of the Obama voters intend to vote for Platt. But 5% of the Romney voters intend to do so. See the top of the fourth page. Thanks to Michael for the link.

Appeal to Readers for Research Assistance

Posted on by April 22, 2013
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If anyone can assist with my research project, please comment below, or else send me an e-mail at richardwinger@yahoo.com. The research project is to determine which state constitutions mention political parties. It has already been determined that the state constitutions of at least 34 states do mention them.

If anyone can find any mention of “political party” or “partisan” or “non-partisan” in the text of these 16 state Constitutions, please let me know: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin. I have already read the state constitutions of these 16 states, and I can’t find any of the terms. But it is easy to miss a short phrase in a lengthy document, and possibly one of you will find something I missed. Thank you very much.