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California Governor Signs Bill that Eliminates Write-in Space on General Election Ballots for Congress and State Office

Posted on February 10, 2012 by adminFebruary 10, 2012

On February 10, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1413, which removes write-in space from general election ballots for Congress and state partisan office. California is the only state that has ever had write-ins, but which doesn’t have them any longer, except for Louisiana. States that formerly did not have write-in space on general election ballots, but added such space during the last 45 years, are Florida, Indiana, Delaware, and Ohio.

California is now one of only six states that have no write-in space on the November ballot for Congress.

Texas Congressman Advocates August 2012 Primary for Congress and Legislature

Posted on February 10, 2012 by adminFebruary 10, 2012

On February 10, U.S. House member Joe Barton of Texas filed a brief with the 3-judge U.S. District Court in San Antonio that is hearing the redistricting lawsuit, advocating that the San Antonio court wait until the 3-judge U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. decides whether the legislature’s plan violates the Voting Rights Act.

Barton acknowledged that would delay redistricting quite a bit. His brief says, “Recognizing the interest of the statewide parties to conduct conventions, it is possible to bifurcate the presidential primary, if the Court so chooses. If the Court chooses to bifurcate the presidential primary, the other primaries could be held as late as the end of August. The presidential primary does not have a run-off election and programming andpreparing a single statewide ballot is relatively simple.” Thanks to TexasRedistricting blog for this news.

If Barton’s plan were to be adopted, one wonders what would happen to independent non-presidential candidate petition procedures. Texas says those petitions cannot be circulated until after the primary. Presumably, an independent candidate for office other than President would, under the Barton plan, not be allowed to start circulating until August, yet the state needs to print its ballots in early September.

Here is the map of Barton’s district as it was drawn after the 2000 census. It includes southeast Dallas and then a long swath of territory extending into rural areas that is barely attached to the Dallas part of the district. Barton was re-elected in 2010 with almost 70% of the vote.

New York Plaintiffs in Favors v Cuomo Lawsuit Appeal to Court to Take Over New York Redistricting

Posted on February 10, 2012 by adminFebruary 10, 2012

Back in November 2011, a group of New York community leaders, and persons interested in government and elections, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, asking the Court to take over redistricting of U.S. House and legislative districts, on the theory that the New York legislature had proved itself incapable of doing the job in a timely manner. That case is Favors v Cuomo, 11-cv-5632. It is before U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry.

On February 10, the plaintiffs wrote a letter to Judge Irizarry, pleading for quick appointment of a 3-judge court, which would be needed for the court to take over redistricting. The letter says, in part, “The March 20 start to the candidate petitioning period is less than six weeks away, yet no congressional lines have even been proposed through New York’s legislative process. It is now exceedingly unlikely that a new congressional redistricting plan can be proposed and passed by the legislative redistricting task force, referred to and passed by the Legislature, signed by the Governor, sent to the U.S. Department of Justice and precleared, all sufficiently in advance of March 20 so that candidates and their supporters can prepare for the petitioning period.”

The letter attaches the February 9 order of U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe (who is in Albany), which imposed a reduction in the number of signatures needed to get on a primary ballot and a reduction in the petitioning period. The period runs from March 20 through April 16, which is ten days shorter than the normal period. Judge Sharpe’s order is very critical of the New York legislature. It starts out, “New York has once again demonstrated its intransigent refusal to comply with a federal mandate protecting the federal voting rights of those serving in the military overseas and those otherwise living on foreign soil.”

Indiana Republican Primary Ballot Might Include Patricia Sandifer, Who Only Filed One Petition Signature

Posted on February 10, 2012 by adminFebruary 10, 2012

February 10 at noon was the deadline for Indiana candidates running in a primary to file. The Indiana Secretary of State’s web page now lists five candidates who filed for the Republican presidential primary ballot: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Patricia Inez Sandifer, who lives in Indiana. She only submitted one signature, her own. However, under Indiana law, anyone who files a petition for a primary ballot, no matter how few signatures, is on the ballot unless the person is challenged and the challenge succeeds.

On the Democratic presidential primary, only President Obama filed.

The challenge period in Indiana is now open, and closes next week. It seems somewhat likely that Rick Santorum will be challenged, because according to elections officials in Marion County, he does not have as many as 500 valid signatures from the 7th U.S. House district. The law requires presidential primary petitions to have 4,500 signatures, with at least 500 from each U.S. House district.

No one can predict if Patricia Sandifer will be challenged. Indiana’s policy of leaving candidates on the ballot, even if they didn’t submit the raw number of signatures required (assuming they aren’t challenged), only applies to primaries. Indiana would not print the name of someone on the general election ballot as an independent or minor party candidate if that person’s petition lacked the required number of signatures, whether anyone challenged or not.

The only state that leaves people on the November ballot, regardless of how few signatures they have, if they are not challenged, is Illinois. In 2008, an independent presidential candidate, John Joseph Polachek, filed one signature to be on the November ballot in Illinois, and no one challenged him, so he remained on the ballot.

The challenge system is basically subversive of democratic values, because typically, candidates are not challenged if they are not perceived as threatening to anyone, but they are challenged if they have the potential to receive a high vote total. So the challenge system perversely often means that the less support a candidate has, the more likely he or she is to appear on the ballot, relative to a candidate who has substantial support.

Improved Virginia Bill, Making 2012 Petitioning Possible Now, Passes House Committee

Posted on February 10, 2012 by adminFebruary 10, 2012

On February 10, Virginia HB 1151 passed the House Privileges and Elections Committee unanimously. This is the bill that says the old U.S. House districts should be used for anyone circulating a petition for either primary ballot access, or general election ballot access, this year. The Committee amended the bill to make it applicable to Presidential petitions.

Until this bill passes, no one can be circulating for President in the general election, or U.S. Senate or U.S. House in either the primary or general elections. That is because no one knows what the district boundaries will be. But assuming it passes and is signed into law quickly, then petitioning for all federal offices can start. Bill Redpath persuaded the bill’s author, Delegate Mark Cole, to amend his bill so that it includes presidential petitions. The reason presidential petitions are affected is that the petition must list a presidential elector candidate who lives in each district, but the bill will permit the list to be drawn up based on the old boundaries.