Ohio Senate Passes Bill Designed to Give Ohio a Constitutional Ballot Access Law for Minor Parties

Posted on by June 24, 2011
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On June 23, the Ohio Senate passed HB 194, the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. As mentioned earlier, it moves the primary in presidential years from March to May, and it moves the petition deadline for new party petitions from 120 days before the primary to 90 days before the primary. Although this is obviously better than having a deadline of November of the year before the election, it still gives Ohio an unconstitutionally early petition deadline of early February.

The bill is not entirely through the legislature. The Senate amended some unrelated aspects, and so it must go back to the House for concurrence. That will happen on June 27 at the earliest.

Assuming the bill is signed into law in the next two weeks, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted will probably rule that the new law is valid, and that therefore the four minor parties that were on the ballot in 2008 and 2010 (Constitution, Green, Libertarian, and Socialist) are no longer ballot-qualified. This is not certain, however. A new lawsuit is extremely likely; the new lawsuit will argue that the new law is just as unconstitutional as the old law.

New York Legislature is About to Adjourn, Having Passed Only One Significant Election Law Bill

Posted on by June 23, 2011
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The New York legislature is expected to adjourn for the year on June 24. The only significant election law bill that passed this year is A8363/S5753, which moves the presidential primary from February to April. The bill to set up a statewide initiative system, S709, never made any headway in the Assembly, although it did pass the Senate. Also, the national popular vote plan bill, S4208, passed the Senate but not the Assembly. Many bills to ease signature requirements for candidates made no progress in either chamber. UPDATE: as of June 24, it is not clear that the legislative session will end this week; it may be continued into next week.

Louisiana Legislature Passes Bill to Allow “Independent” Label on Ballot for Independent Candidates

Posted on by June 23, 2011
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On June 20, the Louisiana Senate passed HB 533 by 26-9. This is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. Among other things, it lets independent candidates for all office have “independent” on the ballot next to their names. Previously, only independent presidential candidates could have that label. The bill also removes the names of presidential elector candidates from the ballot.

Federal Judge in Texas Invalidates Houston’s Popular Vote to Eliminate Red-Light Cameras

Posted on by June 23, 2011
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On June 17, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes, a Reagan appointee, ruled that a November 2010 ballot measure passed by the voters of Houston, Texas, is invalid. Here is the six-page opinion in City of Houston v American Traffic Solutions, Inc., southern district H-10-4545. There will be an appeal. American Traffic Solutions is the company that installs red light cameras at intersections.

Texas election law, and the Houston city charter, permit initiatives to amend to city charter, but there is no initiative process for ordinances. There is provision for referendums for ordinances, but referendum petitions must be filed shortly after an ordinance is passed by the city council. In 2004 the Houston city council passed an ordinance to use cameras to record cars running red lights. No one filed a referendum petition against that new policy in 2004. As time went on, popular discontent with the cameras increased, so in 2010 the city council, responding to popular opinion, put a proposed Charter Amendment on the ballot to ask the voters if they wish to eliminate the cameras. The voters passed it, but this decision invalidates the vote, on the grounds that an issue that narrow can’t be a Charter amendment. It is not clear why this case is in federal court instead of state court.