On April 11, former Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter sued some of his campaign workers for allegedly sabotaging his ballot access petition in 2012. In Michigan, candidates for certain partisan offices, including Congress, must submit petitions to be on a primary ballot. McCotter could not appear on the primary ballot in 2012 because his petition was deficient. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
California State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) will not attempt to advance SCA 12 and SB 712 this year. This is the proposed constitutional amendment and bill to make it more difficult for write-in candidates in a partisan primary to advance to the general election. Current law says whoever comes in second in the June primary for Congress and state office advances to the November ballot. The bill would have said if the person who comes in second is a write-in in the June primary, he or she can’t appear on the November ballot unless the candidate polled a very large number of write-in votes.
The Oklahoma bill to double candidate filing fees, SB 76, is dead for the year. Although it had passed the Senate, it never advanced through the policy committee in the House, and it is now too late for it to do so. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
On April 11, the Illinois House passed HJRCA 18, which would abolish the office of Lieutenant Governor. If it became law, and the Governorship became vacant, the Attorney General would become Governor. The vote was 83-28. If it also passes the Senate, the voters would vote on it in 2014. The motivation is to save money. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
Wisconsin repealed the straight-ticket device in 2011. This Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story says that the change in the 2012 election was helpful to incumbent Republican legislators. Thanks to Rick Kissell for the link.
