Newsday has this April 5 editorial, calling on the New York state legislature to ease ballot access restrictions, and to ease restrictions on voters who wish to change political party affiliation. Newsday is the dominant daily newspaper on Long Island’s suburban counties.
The Republican Party of South Carolina filed a lawsuit in 2010 against state laws that virtually force it to nominate using an open primary. The case has not yet had a decision in U.S. District Court. One reason for the delay is that the Republican Party has had trouble getting the evidence it needs from the state. The Republican Party hopes to show that various Democratic activists have been voting in Republican Party primaries, but the state has not furnished the data that would show this. Although voting is secret, the list of which primaries various voters choose to vote in is not secret.
There will be a hearing in the case on Wednesday, April 17, at 1:30 p.m., over the dispute about gathering the evidence. The Republican Party has a pending motion asking for sanctions against the state for not producing the requested evidence. The case is South Carolina Republican Party v State of South Carolina, 6:10cv-1407.
This interview with Jill Stein in the Charlotte Business Journal is interesting throughout. Especially notable is her account of being held in a freezing cold jail cell all night, during her campaign.
Jerry Goldfeder, one of the leading experts on New York election law, has this column in CityLand, advocating improvements in New York state election law. He calls for easier ballot access. He also calls for easing the restrictive law that does not permit voters to change parties within eleven months of a primary. This is by far the most restrictive such law in the nation.
Unfortunately, Goldfeder did not call for improving New York ballot format. New York has the nation’s most confusing ballot, followed closely by the ballot used in most counties in New Jersey. Both New York and New Jersey ballots hide “unimportant” candidates in far corners of the ballot, where many voters don’t even notice their names. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On April 11, former Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter sued some of his campaign workers for allegedly sabotaging his ballot access petition in 2012. In Michigan, candidates for certain partisan offices, including Congress, must submit petitions to be on a primary ballot. McCotter could not appear on the primary ballot in 2012 because his petition was deficient. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
