On July 15, the Virginia Republican Party voted to nominate its statewide candidates in 2013 by convention instead of by primary. See this story.
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Arizona held a special election on June 12, to fill the vacancy in the U.S. House seat, 8th district. Even though all the provisional ballots still haven’t been counted, turnout is already 47.1% of the number of registered voters, and that will increase as more ballots are counted.
Voters in the 8th district heard a stimulating campaign, in which three parties participated. The Democratic, Republican, and Green Parties appeared on that ballot. The Democratic candidate won with an absolute majority.
The Arizona 47.1% turnout is especially good, when compared to California’s June 5 statewide primary for President and all other partisan office. That system, using the top-two open primary law passed by the voters in 2010, yielded a turnout of approximately 31%. The votes haven’t all been counted yet so the exact turnout figure is not known. Preliminary reports show that California independent voters turned out at a significantly lower rate than the turnout for party members. This is true, even though the California Independent Voters Network spent over $1,000,000 on a mailing to 500,000 registered independent voters, urging them to vote in the June 5 primary.
The Libertarian and Green Parties are currently suing Arizona in federal court, over the state’s new voter registration forms, which list only the Democratic and Republican Parties. Voters who wish to register into any other party, qualified or not, must write-in its name on the form in a very small space. The lawsuit is Arizona Libertarian Party v Bennett, 4:11-cv-856, and was filed last year.
The state has obtained an extension of time in which to file its brief. It had been due on June 11, but now is due June 29. The state says it needed an extension because its legal staff is busy adjudicating challenges to the petitions submitted by various candidates.
On June 5, a Pennsylvania bill to end partisan statewide elections for judges failed to pass committee. See this story. Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.
Last month, the Green Party and the Constitution Party filed a lawsuit against Georgia’s signature requirement to get on the ballot for President. The state’s answer was due on June 14, but the state has requested an extension of one week. Plaintiffs agreed not to oppose that request. The state says it will not oppose the motion of the political parties to expedite the case. The case is Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 1:12-cv-1822.
Georgia requires slightly more than 50,000 signatures for independent or newly-qualifying ballot access for President. The signatures are due in July. No group has qualified to place a presidential candidate on the ballot by either type of petition, in over ten years. The only parties that don’t need to petition for President are the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties. Although Americans Elect collected signatures in Georgia, it didn’t submit them and does not plan to submit them.
Georgia is in the 11th circuit. In 1985, the 11th circuit ruled that states must provide easier ballot access for President than for other office. That conclusion, in a case called Bergland v Harris, was based in the U.S. Supreme Court 1983 decision that also said states must be more lenient for President than for other office. The most difficult petition requirement that the U.S. Supreme Court has ever upheld concerning presidential ballot access was the Texas requirement, which was and continues to be a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. If Georgia had a petition requirement for president of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, the state’s requirement this year would be 25,762 signatures.