Voters in the New Orleans area voted on November 6, 2012, on whether bridge tolls should remain on a crossing over the Mississippi River. The vote for tolls passed by only 36 votes. But then it was discovered that provisional ballots did not include the ballot measure, so the vote has been invalidated and a new vote will be held in May. See this story.
Los Angeles elected a new mayor, and members of the city council, on March 5. This Los Angeles Times story says even after all the ballots are counted, turnout will be under 20% of the registered voters. Los Angeles, like all cities in California, uses non-partisan elections.
The results, as of the morning of March 7, are: Eric Garcetti 93,978; Wendy Greuel 83,308; Kevin James 46,684; Jan Perry 45,480; Emanuel Pleitez 11,716; Norton Sandler 1,598; Addie Miller 1,401; Yehuda Draiman 1,174. No one got as much as 50%, so there will be a run-off on May 21.
Norton Sandler was the Socialist Workers Party candidate. His percentage, .56%, is not as high as the percentage received by the Socialist Workers nominee in the 2009 Mayoral election. In the 2009 election, James Harris received .90%.
Since 1954, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission has had a regulation making it illegal for a business with a liquor license to display a sign indicating support for a candidate or a political party. However, the ACLU sued in federal court last October, and the Commission has now eliminated that regulation. The case was Contreras v Deloney, eastern district, 2:2012-cv-14616. It was dismissed on December 28, 2012, after the Commission promised to end the regulation. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On February 4, the North Dakota Senate passed SB 2213, which repeals a law passed in 1911 that makes it illegal for anyone to try to persuade any voter to vote for or against any candidate on election day. Last October, a U.S. District Court enjoined the law. The case has been on hold, to give the legislature an opportunity to repeal the law.
SB 2213 repeals the restriction, but it also says that it is still illegal to try to influence a voter on election day within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place. The old law made a general exception for campaign bumper stickers on vehicles. The bill says that it remains legal for an automobile with a campaign bumper sticker to be within 100 feet of the entrance of a polling place, but that the driver must drive the car away as soon as he or she has voted.
On March 6, the New Hampshire House passed HB 521, which establishes a committee to study New Hampshire election laws. The “Duties” of the committee will be to “study all current New Hampshire election laws and procedures and review all options to increase participation and access to the ballot including but not limited to solutions to limit lines and wait times in casting ballots, public education related to election law, election procedures, early voting, and absentee voting.” The bill also says the committee “shall consult with and solicit testimony from the public in the course of its duties.”
The Committee will be composed of five state legislators, and will do its work after the legislature adjourns this year, so any recommendations will be brought forward in 2014. When this bill passed in the House Election Law Committee, some legislators said the intent of the bill does not mean that the committee should study ballot access, but the plain language of the bill seems to permit it.
Assuming the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, the existence of the committee should provide an opportunity for members of the public to testify about New Hampshire’s terrible ballot access laws. The state is one of only three in which no party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has been ballot-qualified at any time from November 1996 to the present day. Also, New Hampshire is the only eastern state in which the Green Party has not been on the statewide ballot since 2000, and was one of only two states in which the Libertarian Party presidential nominee did not appear on the 2004 ballot. In 2006, New Hampshire was one of only five states with a Democratic-Republican monopoly for all statewide offices (the others were Alabama, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania).
