See this story about the state court lawsuit in El Paso, Texas, over whether a recall petition for the Mayor is valid. Supporters of the Mayor believe that Texas laws make it illegal for churches and other corporations to contribute to a recall campaign. The church, or at least an officer of the church, has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that if Texas law does prohibit such contributions, then the Texas law violates the U.S. Constitution.
At the November 8, 2011 in Derby, Connecticut, one of the Democratic Party nominees for a seat on the Board of Apportionment and Taxation was James R. Butler. However, whoever prepared the ballots erroneously listed him as James J. Butler. It happens that the town does have a resident by that name, and he is the son of James R. Butler. According to this news story, the Connecticut Secretary of State has ruled that James J. Butler has therefore been elected, even though he apparently doesn’t want the job.
The Connecticut Secretary of State’s ruling seems faulty. There may be other relevant facts that the news story doesn’t mention. One wonders what the Secretary of State would have said if no one by the name of James J. Butler lives in Derby, or if there were several people in the town with that name. Thanks to Randall Hayes for the link.
Americans Elect petitions for party status have enough valid signatures in Utah and Hawaii. In Hawaii, the state still doesn’t consider the party ballot-qualified until it submits some additional paperwork about its officers and bylaws.
Florida has again confirmed that Americans Elect is qualified there. It had already been qualified, but Florida elections officials had been reviewing party paperwork for all minor parties and renewing the status of those parties.
Howard Megdal has this article in Salon, suggesting that the Republican presidential primaries and caucuses might elect a delegate field in which no one candidate has a majority of the delegates. He also suggests that in that case, it is possible that the convention might choose someone for President who did not even run in the presidential primaries. The last major party nominee who had not run in any primaries or caucuses was Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic nominee in 1968. Thanks to both Political Wire and Rick Hasen for the link.
The major party conventions throughtout most of the nation’s history were much earlier, so it was somewhat more practical for the national conventions themselves to make the decision as to whom to nominate. For most of the 20th century, major party presidential conventions were in June. The upcoming Republican convention won’t convene until August 27, 2012.
Dennis Mikolay has this article in Atlantic Highlands Herald, a New Jersey electronic newspaper, about the idea that either or both Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer will run for President in November 2012 as the nominees of new or minor parties. Thanks to Steve Urbano for the link.
