On May 7, South Carolina State Senator George Campsen (R-Charleston) introduced SB 683. It would provide that if a candidate is nominated by more than one party, the candidate must choose which party’s nomination he or she wants, and must decline all other nominations. There have been bills in previous sessions of the South Carolina legislature to ban fusion, but they didn’t pass. The bill, so far at least, has no co-sponsors.
California held a special election on May 21 to fill the vacant State Senate seat, 16th district. Three Democrats, a Republican, and a Peace & Freedom Party member ran. Here are the unofficial results. Unlike regularly-scheduled elections in California, in special elections, if anyone gets 50% of the vote, there is no second election. It appears the Republican, Andy Vidak, is winning this seat outright. The district had been represented by a Democrat who resigned his seat to take a job in the private sector.
Even though Ken Cuccinelli, Republican nominee for Governor of Virginia this year, wants to debate 15 times with his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, Cuccinelli does not want Rob Sarvis to be invited to any of the debates. See this story. Sarvis is the Libertarian nominee and appears likely to be the only third candidate on the ballot.
On May 21, the California Green, Libertarian, and Peace & Freedom Parties filed this brief in Rubin v Bowen, the case in state court that challenges the California top-two system. The parties also filed this request for Judicial Notice, pertaining to the procedures by which the top-two bills passed the legislature, as well as June 2012 and November 2012 data showing almost 2.5 times as many voters voted in California in November as in June.
New York State Senator Greg Ball (R-Patterson) has introduced SB 5305. It would convert all elections for state and local office to non-partisan elections. There would be no primaries for state or local office. Instead, anyone who wanted to run would do so in November. Candidates would get on the ballot with petitions. Statewide candidates would need 15,000 signatures. No party labels would appear on the ballot.
