As has been said many times over the years by this site, Great Britain only requires 10 signatures for a candidate to get on a ballot to run for House of Commons. Here is a copy of the British petition form. Scroll down to page two. Candidates also need a filing fee of 500 pounds, which is returned if the candidate polls at least 5%. The British term for filing fee is “deposit.” Thanks to Charles McKeon for the link.
The California State Senate Elections Committee will hear AB 1200 on Tuesday, February 21. This is a bill to revise procedures for elections for County Central Committee. It has an urgency clause, and will take effect immediately if signed into law. The bill is of some concern to the Green Party, the Peace & Freedom Party, and the American Independent Party, all of which hold elections for party office. The Libertarian Party, and Americans Elect, do not hold such elections in government-administered elections.
On February 8, the Idaho House passed HB 391 by a vote of 56-12. It abolishes the state’s presidential primary, and takes effect this year. The primary is set for May 15.
Assuming the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, 2012 will be the first year since 1972 that Idaho has not had a presidential primary. The rationale for abolishing it this year is that the Democratic and Republican Parties are holding caucuses to choose the delegates, and therefore the presidential primary is not binding. But, of course, presidential primaries do have influence on public opinion, even when they aren’t being used to select delegates. The Missouri presidential primary of February 7 is evidence of that.
On February 9, the Virginia House unanimously passed HB 736, which moves the 2012 non-presidential primary from June to August 7. The bill only takes effect if the state’s U.S. House district boundaries aren’t settled by April 3, 2012. The bill also moves the petition deadline for non-presidential independent and minor party candidates from June to August.
Virginia doesn’t have state legislative elections this year. Legislators are elected in odd years. The non-presidential primary in even years is for Congress and local office.
