Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson is at 2% in a recent CNN poll, according to this story. He is not invited to the Republican presidential debate of September 7. However, two of the eight candidates who are invited are only at 1%.
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On September 1, the Florida Secretary of State ruled that the new requirement that parties not recognized by the Federal Election Commission must submit 112,174 valid signatures in 2012, to be on the ballot for President, will not be enforced by his office.
The new presidential ballot access law, signed by the Governor on May 19, 2011, will thus have no harmful effect on any qualified party, even a party that hasn’t yet come into existence. The law says that qualified parties not recognized by the Federal Election Commission as “national committees” must submit signatures equal to 1% of the number of registered voters at the previous election.
The basis for the Secretary of State’s ruling is that it is not his office’s duty to determine the qualifications of presidential nominees. If the ballot-qualified party submits a list of presidential elector candidates, and the names of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees they are pledged to, they will be put on the ballot. And it is true, the Secretary of State has no official knowledge of which parties have “national committee” status from the FEC.
Underlying all this is the separate point that the new presidential petition probably violates the Florida Constitution, because the Florida Constitution says ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates can’t be more difficult than the requirements to place Democratic Party nominees on the ballot. The Secretary of State’s ruling points out that some private individual or group may sue to force the removal of any presidential nominee, but if anyone sues the Secretary of State to remove the nominee, the Secretary of State and the nominee would undoubtedly defend themselves by pointing out that the 2011 requirement violates the Florida Constitution.
Last week’s ruling is especially good news for Americans Elect, the Prohibition Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Socialist Workers Party, four parties that have been ballot-qualified in Florida all along, and which intend to have presidential nominees in 2012, and which are not recognized by the FEC. Thanks to Dan Winslow for the news. UPDATE: here is the Secretary of State’s ruling. FURTHER UPDATE: this post was re-written on September 18 to improve its accuracy. The original post had been written before the letter was available.
On September 3, the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania held an election for the state parliament. Greens received 8.5% of the vote, more than double their showing the last time this state elected officers, in 2006. See this New York Times story.
This news story about the Carl Lewis ballot access lawsuit says that if Lewis doesn’t win in the U.S. District Court, he will immediately appeal to the 3rd circuit. The story also mentions that one of Lewis’ attorneys is a former State Supreme Court Justice from the New Jersey Supreme Court.
As noted before, the issue in Lewis v Guadagno is whether the New Jersey Constitution, requiring 4 years residency before running for State Senate, violates the U.S. Constitution. A state court has already ruled that Lewis doesn’t comply with the residency requirement. The U.S. District Court still hasn’t issued a final opinion. The election is November 8, 2011. New Jersey elects its legislators in November of odd years.
Since 1993, New Zealand has used the Mixed Member proportional representation system. On November 26, New Zealand holds a national parliamentary election, and also votes on whether to keep MMP or shift to another system. Here is an Australian newspaper article that describes the current system and the upcoming referendum.
To help New Zealand voters decide which system they prefer, election officials have prepared this neutral explanation of each type of system, and even provide a flow chart to help anyone decide, based on that individual’s values. See it here. Thanks to Rosa Barker for the link and the news. Although the election is more than two months away, most observers expect that New Zealand voters will retain the existing system.