Over the weekend of October 29-30, the Idaho Democratic Party formally decided to continue to permit all registered voters to choose a Democratic Party primary ballot. See this story. The decision was expected. The Idaho Democratic Party have been critical of the Republican Party for having sued the state to obtain a closed Republican primary.
On October 31, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that it will again hold presidential general election debates, and named the dates and locations for each of the four debates. The only vice-presidential debate will be October 11, at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
The three presidential debates will be: (1) October 3, University of Denver; (2) October 16, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.; (3) October 22, Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.
Also on October 31, the Commission said that its old rules for inclusion will still apply: 15% in the polls and on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win the election.
The Commission is famous for its prejudice against minor party and independent candidates, but it is also seems unfair to the different regions of the country. The Commission has sponsored 26 debates for president and vice-president starting in 1988. Eleven have been in the South, seven in the Midwest, but only four in the East, and only four in the West. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.
On October 31, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed the decision of a 3-judge U.S. District Court in the southern district of Mississippi. The 3-judge court had ruled on May 16, 2011, that the 2011 legislative elections may be held using the districts drawn after the 2000 census. The NAACP had argued that because the state now has its 2010 census data, the Constitution requires that the state must redistrict using the 2010 census data in time for the 2011 election. The lower court case is Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v Barbour, 3:11-cv-00159. In the U.S. Supreme Court, the case was 11-82.
The 3-judge court in Mississippi has retained jurisdiction of this case. The decision makes it clear that the new districts must be drawn in 2012. It is still an open question whether, after the new districts are drawn in 2012, all the state legislators will need to run again in special elections in 2012. Mississippi elects all its state legislators for four-year terms in the odd years preceding presidential election years (including 2011, of course). If no special elections for state legislators are held in 2012, that will mean the old districts, based on the 2000 census, will have been in effect until the 2015 election.
Ballot Access News
October 1, 2011 – Volume 27, Number 5
This issue was printed on white paper. |
Table of Contents
- MINOR PARTY PETITIONS ELIMINATED IN FLORIDA, OHIO
- NEBRASKA VICTORY
- THIRD CIRCUIT CHANGES MIND ON CARL LEWIS
- CALIFORNIA WRITE-INS SAVED IN LEGISLATURE
- OPEN PRIMARY LAWSUIT NEWS
- MORE LAWSUIT NEWS
- BOOK REVIEW: VITO MARCANTONIO: RADICAL POLITICIAN 1902-1954
- BOOK REVIEW: IN THE BALANCE OF POWER: INDEPENDENT BLACK POLITICS AND THIRD-PARTY MOVEMENTS
- OREGON INCOME TAX MONEY FOR PARTIES
- MOST RECENT USE OF STATEWIDE NEW PARTY QUALIFICATION PROCEDURE
- 2012 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
- 20% OF VOTERS SAY THEY ARE NOT DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS, OR INDEPENDENTS
- NEW YORK SPECIAL ELECTIONS
- NEVADA SPECIAL ELECTION
- MISSISSIPPI RECOGNIZES SHAWN O’HARA FACTION OF REFORM PARTY
- LOUISIANA 2011 ELECTION
- VIRGINIA 2011 ELECTION
- SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL
According to this story, courts that are currently evaluating Texas’ new U.S. House districts might conceivably alter the deadline by which candidates file for the primary.