On May 25, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed HB 2080, eliminating the presidential primary in 2012. All parties in Kansas will use caucuses or party meetings to choose national convention delegates. Thanks to Josh Putnam of Frontloading HQ for this news.
On May 25, a jury in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, acquitted a husband and wife of voting twice in 2010. See this story. They did submit absentee ballots before election day, but when they dropped by the polling place on election day, their names in the poll book did not show that they had voted absentee. So, believing their absentee votes had been lost or otherwise not counted, they voted at the polls. If they had been convicted, they faced being sentenced to prison.
On May 24, the Louisiana House and Government Affairs Committee passed HB 388, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. All three of the bill’s sponsors are Republicans: Nickie Monica of LaPlace, Noble Ellington of Winnsboro, and Joe Harrison of Gray. The committee vote was 14-0. However, a spokesperson for Governor Bobby Jindal opposed the bill.
Late at night on May 24, the Texas House passed SB 100 on second reading, after amending it. The bill, as amended, retains the primary in March, but moves the runoff primary from April to May. Because the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates is tied to the date of the runoff primary, the bill has the effect of moving the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from early May to June 21, 2012.
The presidential independent petition deadline, however, is not tied to the date of the runoff primary, so it remains on May 14, 2012. Texas already easily had the nation’s earliest independent presidential petition deadline; ever since 1987 it has been the only state with a petition deadline earlier than June. If any independent presidential candidate brings a lawsuit to challenge the May independent presidential deadline, Texas will be hard-pressed to explain why the independent presidential deadline should be 38 days earlier than the petition deadline for non-presidential independents.
Under the bill, newly qualifying parties are still required to tell the state that they expect to petition on or before January 2, 2012. But, the deadline for non-presidential independent candidates moves to December 12, 2011. If this bill passes, Texas is the only state that will have ever required independent candidates to notify the government that they intend to run, in the odd year before the election. Candidates (for office other than President) seeking the nomination of a party also will need to file a declaration no later than December 12, 2011, if SB 100 passes. Thanks to Jim Riley for details about the bill.
On May 24, New York voters filled the vacant U.S. House seat, 26th district. The results are: 48% for the Democratic nominee, 42% for the Republican nominee, 8% to Jack Davis (the independent candidate with the Tea Party label), and 2% for Ian Murphy, the Green Party nominee.
