See this story, which says that New York state’s legislature doesn’t expect to pass a U.S. House redistricting plan until mid-March, and which also says that due to the new court-imposed June primary date, elections administrators and candidates will have a tough time coping. The article hints that certain election laws might be changed. Possibly the legislature will relax the onerous primary petition requirements for 2012.
As reported earlier, last week the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated the Redistricting Commission’s redistricting plan for Pennsylvania legislative districts, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also said the districts that have been in place for ten years should be used in the meantime.
On January 30, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the U.S. Constitution does not permit the use of the old districts, because population has shifted since 2000. See this story.
The Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary will list only President Obama. The Republican presidential primary will include Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. The primaries are on April 3.
Last month, the Washington, D.C., city council passed bill 19-547, which changes the petitioning period for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, for President and all other partisan office. Petitioning can now begin two weeks earlier, and the deadline is two weeks earlier. For 2012, the period opens on June 15 and petitions are due on August 8. Thanks to Bob Johnston for this news.
D.C. does permit presidential stand-ins on petitions, so the changed period does not necessarily prevent an unqualified party from choosing its presidential nominee during August of an election year.
The Maryland State Court of Appeals, the highest state court in that state, will hear oral arguments on March 2 in Maryland State Board of Elections v Libertarian & Green Parties of Maryland, 2011-79. This is the case over whether certain types of signatures on petitions are valid. The parties had won the case in the lower court, which is why their petitions for ballot status in 2012 and 2014 have been approved.
