On March 13, Wellington, Florida held an election for its village council (Wellington calls itself a “village” but it has a population of 57,000). After the results were certified, it was discovered that the Dominion vote-counting machines had malfunctioned. The clerk of the village would like to re-certify the election with the correct winners, but it is not clear that such a move is legal. The matter is pending in state court. See this story.
On March 26, the Nebraska Secretary of State announced that the Americans Elect petition has enough valid signatures. Nebraska now has four qualified parties; the others are Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian. The deadline is August 1 for any additional parties that may wish to qualify.
On March 26, the Nebraska Supreme Court declined to hear the Republican Party’s appeal, in the case over whether Bob Kerrey should be on the Democratic primary ballot on May 15 as a candidate for U.S. Senate. See this story. The Supreme Court said it doesn’t have jurisdiction, so the lower court decision stands. The lower court said candidates for federal office cannot be required to be registered voters, so even if Kerrey’s voter registration is improper, it doesn’t make any difference to whether he can run.
According to this story, the Connecticut House Government Administration & Elections Committee is not likely to pass HB 5528, a bill to revamp the state’s public funding program.
The existing law provides for extra public funding for certain publicly-funded candidates. The existing law gives extra public funding when opponents spend a great deal of privately-raised money. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Arizona Free Enterprise PAC case that such extra public funding is unconstitutional. In response, HB 5528, a proposal by Governor Dan Malloy, eliminates the extra public funding, but says contribution limits for publicly-funded candidates would be relaxed.
The problem with that idea is that it seems to run afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Davis v FEC, which ruled that a federal law, relaxing contribution limits for congressional candidates who have opponents who spend more than $350,000 of their own money on their own campaign, is unconstitutional. The Committee heard testimony that the Governor’s proposal wouldn’t be constitutional, and probably won’t pass the bill in its existing form.
Some of the nation’s smaller or newer political parties have recently launched petition drives to place themselves, or their presidential nominees, on the November ballot. The Party for Socialism and Liberation has completed its Vermont petition. The Socialist Party is petitioning in New Jersey. American Third Petition is petitioning in West Virginia, Mississippi, and New Jersey. The Justice Party, having finished qualification efforts in Mississippi and Utah, is petitioning in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
