Oregon Court Won’t Adjudicate Intra-Libertarian Party Dispute

Posted on by May 21, 2013
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On May 21, the Oregon State Circuit Court, 5th district, issued an opinion in Reeves v Wagner, cv12-010345. The Oregon Libertarian Party is internally divided between two factions. The Reeves faction sued the Wagner faction, hoping to obtain a court decision that the Reeves faction officers are the true officers of the state party. But the court ruled that it has no jurisdiction, and that the Oregon Libertarian Party’s Judicial Committee should decide the matter. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.

Virginia Libertarian Gubernatorial Petition Has 15,000 Signatures So Far

Posted on by May 21, 2013
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The Virginia Libertarian Party’s petition to place its gubernatorial candidate on the November 2013 ballot has approximately 15,000 signatures. It needs 10,000 and is due June 11. The candidate is Rob Sarvis. If he gets on the ballot, he will be the only candidate on the ballot other than the Democratic and Republican nominees.

Last year, Tareq Salahi said he would run as an independent for Governor of Virginia, but it appears from this article that he is no longer doing that.

Alabama Legislature Adjourns, Only Passed One Election Law Bill During Entire Session

Posted on by May 21, 2013
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The Alabama legislature adjourned for the year on May 20 at two minutes before midnight. The entire 2013 session only passed on election law bill, to provide for easier absentee voting for emergency relief workers during a natural disaster.

Bills that failed to pass include Senator Cam Ward’s ballot access bill; a bill for election-day registration; a bill to provide that voter registration forms ask voters to choose a party (which would enable parties to close their primaries if they wished to); to provide that write-ins should not be counted unless the write-in candidate might have won the election; to eliminate run-off primaries if someone received at least 35% of the vote; and many others of less interest.

California Secretary of State Now Says She Does Not Recommend Enforcement of Residency Requirement for Circulators

Posted on by May 21, 2013
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The California Secretary of State’s web page now has a footnote in its list of instructions for candidates, concerning petitions in lieu of filing fee. The web page’s instructions to candidates continues to say “Each circulator of an in-lieu-filing-fee petition shall be a registered voter of the district in which the candidate is running. The circulator shall serve within the county in which he or she resides. Election Code section 8106(b)(4).”

But, there is now a footnote #3, which says, “The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down statutes that require petition circulators to be registered voters. Other federal courts have struck down statutes that require petition circulators to reside within the state or locality affected by a petition, especially where requiring circulators to submit to jurisdiction by agreement would achieve the same end and would be more narrowly tailored to further the state’s interest in preventing fraud. The Secretary of State is constitutionally constrained from declaring a state statute invalid, and Elections Code section 8106, subdivision (b), subsection (4) has not been declared unconstitutional by any state or federal court in California. However, given the similarities between this statute and the provisions struck down in the foregoing cases, the Secretary of State does not recommend or support the enforcement of this statute against any petition circulator, especially where the petition circulator agrees to submit to local jurisdiction.”

California Says it May Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Reverse Ninth Circuit on Whether Libertarians have standing to Challenge Residency Requirement for Petitioners

Posted on by May 20, 2013
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On May 20, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez held a status conference in Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, central district, 2:10cv-2488. This is the case in which the party challenges California laws that won’t let circulators work outside their home district, if they are petitioning to place a candidate for district office on the ballot.

The attorney for the state told Judge Gutierrez that the state is considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the party doesn’t have standing to challenge the California law. The state will decide in June whether to do that. Therefore, the proceedings in the U.S. District Court, on the actual issue itself, will be put aside for a few months.