On January 28, the Virginia Senate passed SB 690 by a vote of 23-17. This is the bill that lowers the number of signatures for presidential candidates (both presidential primary candidates, and general election candidates) from 10,000 signatures to 5,000. Republicans overwhelmingly backed the bill, by 17-3. Democrats were mostly opposed; six Democrats voted for the bill but fourteen voted against it.

The six Democrats who voted for the bill were these Senators: Charles Colgan, Creigh Deeds, Adam Ebbin, John Edwards, Ralph Northam, and Phillip Puckett.

The three Republicans who voted against the bill were these Senators: Ryan McDougle, Jeffrey McWaters, and William Stanley. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.

This Washington Post article about Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican, says that he wants the legislature to ease ballot access. One paragraph says that he particularly endorses four particular bills. The article only identifies the bills by their sponsor, but it appears these are the four bills he favors: (1) HB 2213, by Delegate Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Henrico), which lowers all statewide petitions for all office, whether primary or general, from 10,000 to 5,000 signatures and creates an appeals process when a candidate is told he or she doesn’t have enough valid signatures; (2) HB 1346, by Delegate Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg), which lowers only the presidential primary petitions from 10,000 to 5,000; (3) HB 1049, by Senator John Edwards (D-Roanoke), which lets inactive voters sign petitions; (4) HB 2147, by Delegate Richard L. Anderson, which requires that primary petitions actually be checked for validity (currently general election petitions are always checked for validity but primary petitions may not actually be checked).

Two bill sponsors not mentioned are Senator Richard Black (R-Leesburg), whose SB 690 has already passed all Senate committees and lowers all presidential petitions from 10,000 to 5,000; and Delegate Robert H. Brink (D-Arlington), whose HB 1898 repeals the ban on out-of-state circulators. A Libertarian Party lawsuit on that point is currently pending in the 4th circuit, so maybe, since Cuccinelli is Attorney General, he felt it would injure the state’s defense of the ban if he were to endorse that idea.

Cuccinelli is running for Governor this year, and he likely believes that being a champion of easier ballot access is popular with voters. The Democratic gubernatorial nominee is likely to be the former National Chair of the Democratic Party, who took the lead in 2004 in trying to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot in as many states as possible. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link.

Starting in 2013, the Czech Republic elects its President by popular vote. Previously, Parliament had chosen the President. Because the Czech Republic uses a parliamentary system, the Presidency is not endowed with a great deal of political power, but the Czech President does represent the nation, and chooses some judges.

The election law requires a candidate for President to have the endorsement of 10 Senators, or 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies, or submit 50,000 signatures. The Czech Republic has a population of approximately ten million; 50,000 is somewhat less than 1% of the eligible signers. Nine candidates qualified for the January 11-12, 2013 ballot. Three qualified by obtaining endorsements from members of Parliament, and six qualified with petitions. One of the six who qualified by petition was initially told she didn’t have enough valid signatures, but a court ruled that she did have enough.

No one polled as much as 50%, so a run-off was held two weeks later, which was won by Milos Zeman. Here is the wikipedia article about the election. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.