Jimmy McMillan was on the ballot for Governor of New York in November 2010, and official returns show he polled 41,131 votes. His ballot label was “Rent is 2 Damn High.” He has just filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, alleging that he really received at least 50,000 votes, but that the vote count was not honest. See this story.

Although McMillan lives in New York city, the official tally shows that he only got 12,858 votes in New York city, but 28,273 votes in upstate New York. If he had been credited with at least 50,000 votes, his party would now be ballot-qualified.

Indiana State Senator Mike Delph (R-Carmel) has introduced SB 405, which requires candidates for Congress to have lived in Indiana at least five years before the election year. Article One of the U.S. Constitution sets forth the requirements for membership in Congress, and the only reference to residency is that an individual live in the state “when elected.” Under U.S. Term Limits v Thornton, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down term limits for members of Congress, the bill would be unconstitutional.

On January 23, a subcommittee in the Virginia House passed HB 55, which would move the 2016 primary for office other than President from June to March. This would enable the state to save money by having a single primary, instead of two primaries. However, it would force minor party and independent candidates (for office other than President) to file their petitions by March instead of by June.

In other Virginia legislative news, the bills to provide write-in space in primaries have not made any headway. Also, one of the bills to establish registration by party (HB 1051), and to let parties close their primaries, was tabled on January 23. However, other bills to do the same thing are still pending.