The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in the upcoming special election for U.S. Senate will be Gabriel Gomez, who defeated Dan Winslow and Michael Sullivan, according to this news story. The Democratic nominee will be Edward J. Markey. They will be the only two candidates on the June 25 ballot.
Winslow is a Massachusetts state legislator who had also been chief counsel to Americans Elect, 2010-2012.
On April 30, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released the text of a proposed election law bill he hopes the legislature will pass. The proposal is identified as “Legislative Bill Drafting Commission 12024-02-3”, or as “Governor’s Program Bill #4.” The bill, if enacted, would allow anyone to run in any party’s primary, regardless of whether the candidate is a member of that party or not, and regardless of what party officers think about the candidate.
Current law says candidates can’t run in the primary of parties they are not a member of, unless that party’s leaders give permission. Thanks to Mark Dunlea for this news.
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.
