Great Britain holds local elections on May 2. The Green Party has more than 900 candidates on ballots for local office around the country, according to this story. This is what a small or new party can accomplish when the ballot access laws are lenient and non-discriminatory.
Recall petition efforts are underway against four Colorado legislators. One of them, State Senator Evie Hudak, happened to come across a recall petitioner in her district outside a store. According to this story, Senator Hudak attempted to have the petitioner removed from that location. However, twenty-two years ago, Colorado state courts ruled that First Amendment activity must be permitted on shopping center property. Thanks to Doug McNeil for the link.
U.S. District Court Judge Philip S. Gutierrez has set a status conference for May 20 at 3 p.m. in Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen, central district, 2:10cv-2488. He asked that all attorneys appear in person, rather than by phone, which suggests that the hearing will be about the substance of the issue in the case as well as about scheduling. The issue is the constitutionality of various California election laws that prohibit circulators from working outside their home districts. There has been no decision on the main issue so far. Instead, the U.S. District Court Judge had ruled that the plaintiffs don’t have standing, but then the 9th circuit had ruled that they do have standing, and sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision.
Meanwhile, on April 29, the California Senate Appropriations Committee put SB 213 on the suspense file. SB 213 repeals all residency requirements for circulators, and if the bill were to pass swiftly, the lawsuit would be moot. But now the bill will not advance further until May 23 at the earliest.
This article says that while Newt Gingrich was in South Carolina recently, he said that the Republican Party of South Carolina should continue to nominate by open primary. The South Carolina Republican Party is currently in court, arguing for the ability to close its primary. Also the party is thinking about nominating by convention if it can’t close its primary.
Gingrich also said that he might run for President in 2016.
Like South Carolina, Georgia and most other states in the deep south use open primaries.
Pennsylvania State Senator Mike Folmer is hosting a Town Hall Meeting to boost SB 195, the ballot access reform bill. It will be at 6 p.m. on May 28, Tuesday, in Room 312, Neidig Garber Science Center, on the campus of Lebanon Valley College. UPDATE: the original post mistakenly said 8 p.m., but the meeting is at 6 p.m.
For more information, contact Bob Small at bobthepoet@yahoo.com.
