On February 19, the Virginia House passed SB 690, which cuts the number of signatures for all presidential petitions (both presidential primary, and general election petitions) from 10,000 signatures to 5,000 signatures. The bill had already passed the Senate, so now it goes to the Governor. The vote was unanimous. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news. This news will help to bolster the North Carolina ballot access improvement bill, which will be introduced in a week.
Late in 2012, the South Carolina Elections Commission removed the Americans Elect Party from its list of qualified parties, because the party never held the required meetings to elect state party officers.
The U.S. Solicitor General has now received two extensions of time in which to respond to Initiative & Referendum Institute v U.S. Postal Service, 12-722, the case over whether individuals standing on an interior post office sidewalk may sign a petition. The Court has not yet decided whether to hear the case. The original response of the government, arguing that the Court shouldn’t hear the case, was due January 14, but that was postponed to February 12 and now has been postponed again, to March 15.
On February 19, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted one campaign finance case, and took no action on whether to hear another one. The accepted case is McCutcheon v FEC, 12-536. The lower court had upheld federal limits on how much money an individual may donate in any two-year period to all federal candidates combined. This is not a case about how much an individual may contribute to any one particular federal candidate, but a case about the total amount of money an individual may give to any and all candidates.
The case in which the Court deferred a decision is Danielczyk v U.S., 12-579, over the federal law that makes it illegal for a corporation to donate to a candidate for federal office. The lower court had upheld the law.
McCutcheon v FEC will not be argued until the U.S. Supreme Court term that begins in October 2013.
Also on February 19, the Court refused to grant a stay in Noonan v Bowen, 12A606, in which the former California state chair of the American Independent Party had argued that President Obama doesn’t meet the constitutional qualifications.
It also refused to hear LaVergne v Blank, 12-778, over whether the Constitution requires that the size of the U.S. House be substantially increased, and whether or not a “proto-First Amendment” actually passed in 1792, requiring one U.S. House seat for each 50,000 residents.
The Oklahoma House Rules Committee will hear HB 2134 on Wednesday, February 20, at 9 a.m. This is the bill to lower the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party to 5,000 signatures. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
