Four of Arizona’s Five Qualified Parties Submit Presidential Elector Candidates by the Deadline

Posted on by May 30, 2012
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Arizona requires ballot-qualified parties that intend to place a presidential nominee on the November ballot to submit their presidential elector candidates by May 30. No other state requires such early submission of presidential elector candidates.

On May 30, the Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican Parties submitted their candidates for presidential elector. Americans Elect did not submit any candidates for presidential elector. This was no surprise, given the May 17 announcement that Americans Elect won’t nominate anyone for President this year. If Americans Elect had had the slightest inkling that it might change its mind about that, it would have submitted candidates for presidential elector. They could always have withdrawn later.

Georgia Libertarian Party Executive Director is Only Name on Ballot for Marietta Board of Education

Posted on by May 30, 2012
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Marietta, Georgia, is holding a special election on July 31 to fill the Ward One seat on the Board of Education. When filing closed, only Brett C. Bittner had filed to be on the ballot. He is the executive director of the Georgia Libertarian Party.

Marietta is a city of 56,579. It is the county seat and largest city in Cobb County.

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Newspaper that Endorsed Proposition 14 in California, Now Not So Sure

Posted on by May 30, 2012
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The may 30 Santa Cruz Sentinel has this editorial, suggesting that California’s “top-two open primary” system, passed by the voters in June 2010, is not necessarily a helpful idea. The Sentinel endorsed Proposition 14 back in 2010.

Also of interest in this Mother Jones story about the U.S. Senate race in California. The article is one of the few that actually covers this race in any detail. The article describes nine of the 24 candidates in that race.

Montana Secretary of State Says New Non-Presidential Independent Petition Deadline is May 29

Posted on by May 30, 2012
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On May 29, Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch told the press that the Montana independent petition deadline (for candidates running for office other than President) will be May 29. As previously noted, late on Friday, May 25, a U.S. District Court had invalidated the statutory March deadline.

Obviously, for the Secretary of State to set May 29 as the new deadline, the very day that the public became aware of the court decision, makes it impossible for any potential independent candidates to take advantage of the victory in 2012. The March petition deadline had been passed by the 2007 session of the legislature. The law in effect before 2007 said the deadline should be one week before the primary. The Secretary of State feels the proper course of action is to reinstate the deadline that would have been in effect, if the 2007 legislature had not acted. The Secretary of State says the Attorney General agrees with her.

During the period 1968 through this year, there have been 51 instances around the nation when a petition deadline was declared unconstitutional. No state other than Montana ever set a new deadline, by administrative means, using the Secretary of State’s method. On the other hand, since there are no known individuals who have expressed a desire to be independent candidates (for office other than President) in Montana this year, the matter may be moot. It is extremely likely that the 2013 session of the legislature will pass a new deadline.